On Monday I went to Floriana to get my kondotta, which is a piece of paper from the police saying whether I am "of good conduct" or not, so that the-company-that-probably-isn't-going-to-employ-me-anyway will know whether I have committed any crimes.
Or rather, whether I have been caught heheheh. (just kidding folks!). The worst thing I have ever done is to send in my income tax form a few days late, lol.
Anyway, while I was out and about in Valletta afterwards, buying some stuff, I was thinking about the pigeons and what pests they are. I was hatching a scheme by which (a) nature-lovers would get rid of the hunters in the countryside (who are not above shooting at you if you go near them), (b) endangered birds and sparrows would have a much better chance of survival, and (c) we would get rid of the rats-with-wings, all by getting the hunters to come to Valletta and shoot the pigeons.
They would probably use tourists as target practice too, but hey, you can't win 'em all... actually that might make Malta the ultimate adventure destination for the young and foolish... (Urban adventure holidays with a difference! Come and pit your wits against the locals who will hunt you down in the streets of the historic capital city and try to shoot you! High-visibility vests provided free!)
Anyway, then on my way out of the city I passed in front of the Law Courts and was disgusted by this...
Our taxes went to pay for that paving, but then it just gets covered with pigeon poo, and still some people persist in feeding the pigeons! That just makes me angry. Feral pigeons are PESTS. If you like pigeons, by all means keep them and raise them... as long as they are pooing in their cage at your house and not all over expensive paving stone.
The Pieta' Local Council, I found, has bye-laws (.pdf) prohibiting the feeding of pigeons, with fines starting at Lm20. I don't know if Valletta has similar laws (can't check cos the DOI website has problems with its search feature) but if there are such laws then they are obviously not being enforced.
And speaking of laws not being enforced, here's some more blatant flaunting of copyright law in Valletta. Occasionally we hear in the news of someone being prosecuted for selling copied videos/CDs/DVDs, but this is still allowed to go on...
I remember as a kid when there was a crackdown on the video rental shops because most of them were renting out fake videos, and it became possible to rent original videos (you could hear the sound without popping and hissing, and you could see the picture without fuzzy lines traipsing across the screen, and you didn't have to use the tracking button every 30 seconds, and they stopped getting tangled up in the innards of the video player) but now things seemed to have lightened up there too - there is at least one video shop in my locality with pirated videos and DVDs, and a friend of mine in another locality recently switched to a different rental shop from the one she has used for years, because the quality of all the pirated videos was so bad.
*sigh*
As I was taking the pigeon pictures, it started to rain, so I decided to eat lunch indoors before going to run more errands by University. McDonalds was almost full, and the air in there was so stale, it was disgusting. It smelt like the air in their bathroom, which is always horrible (it's in a badly-ventilated basement). I walked out and instead went to get a bezzun from a shop in Zachary Street. Usually I just buy one from this shop (not sure what its name is!) and eat it while walking, but since it was raining i decided to eat inside there for the first time. The interior has wierd aluminium sheets on the wall, and cool red leather seats. A pigeon kept wandering in, but would wander back out as soon as I tried to get a picture of it.
On the way out, I took a picture of the door handle, which caught my eye because of its unusual shape...
I see 2 flaws in your pigeon plan.
1.. Your little sis would kill you hurt the pigeons or even called them rats with wings. I had many bruises to prove this point.
2.. "Come and pit your wits against the locals" ... Not much of a challenge there. ;)
Posted by: Cory | March 09, 2005 at 15:16
1. It's OK, I can deal with her. I usually win, heheheh.
2. It could be worse... we could be Americans. *shudder* :-P
Posted by: MaltaGirl | March 09, 2005 at 15:20
I think the shop in Zachary Str is called Gambrinu :)
Posted by: Kenneth | March 09, 2005 at 16:12
:P If you hate us Americans so much, why did you invite me over and why do you want to keep coming back here?
Posted by: Cory | March 09, 2005 at 17:02
Hi Keith, yes, that was it, saw it on a napkin - Gambrinu! Thanks! I like the mortadella-with-cheese myself :-)
Cory, all the trans-atlantic travel is part of my master plan, muahahahahaha. It's not in my nature to be mysterious, but I can't talk about it, and I can't talk about why...
Posted by: MaltaGirl | March 09, 2005 at 17:19
Cory, read this one... my Dad sent it to me, it's hilarious...
The Revocation of the US Declaration of Independence
Muahahahahaha.
Posted by: MaltaGirl | March 09, 2005 at 22:40
Very funny!!! I am glad that you can deflect your insecurities through humor.
Posted by: Cory | March 11, 2005 at 05:29
Lol! :-P
Posted by: MaltaGirl | March 11, 2005 at 09:46
You live over here for a few years and see if you want to ever move home.
Posted by: Cory | March 11, 2005 at 14:20
Thanks but no thanks... be it ever so humble, there's no place like home :-)
Posted by: MaltaGirl | March 11, 2005 at 21:51
True ... there is no place like home. especially when home is Malta, but that does not make it a good thing. ;)
Posted by: Cory | March 13, 2005 at 01:16