"We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing." George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950, Irish Playwright and Nobel Prize Winner

Thanks to my 30-year-old brother, whom I wrote about in my previous blog, I have remained a bit of a child. I don't think I would have managed it so well had he not been around to keep me interested in toy figures, jigsaw puzzles, colouring projects, singing out of tune and eye spy. If it wasn't for him, like most adults, I too would have lost the ability to play.

Many parents don't encourage play, let alone engage in it, our education system seems to have a hard time seeing any value in it at all, and when an adult shows signs of playfulness it is often misinterpreted as immaturity.

When it comes to kids, first there's reading and writing, then there's studying and learning, then there's memorizing and tutoring, and sadly, playing is always at the end of lists that 'need' to be done.

To steal one from yet another brilliant George (Carlin) – 'whatever happened to children playing with sticks in yards?'

Here's what happened?

Life happened! And life kills the likes of Vicky Vassallo.

If you haven't heard of Ms. Vassallo's rise to fame you've missed out on a great source of legal comedy. Here's the story summarized from a Times online report by Waylon Johnston:

For the past thirty years, Ms. Vassallo has been obsessed with Playmobil toys (her words not mine).

For all these years she's been collecting figures, exchanging them with other enthusiasts and taking part in customised scenes' competitions.

Two years ago, Ms. Vassallo set up an e-bay account selling these customized scenes and models and this is what landed her in trouble, and why she is now on trial for commercial fraud and breach of copyright.

It's sad that we live in a country that wastes precious court time on silly things like this.

It's sad that it's not obvious to the prosecution that everybody should have the right to sell their second hand items.

And it's downright depressing that the case has been dragging on for years, together with other much more serious cases.

But it's not all sad.... in fact there's a funny side which proves George Bernard Shaw a 100% right.

You see, despite being dragged to court for a silly, meaningless, pseudo crime. Despite having to fork money out of pocket to pay for a lawyer and God knows how much in court fees, Ms. Vassallo turned up in court with one of her customized Playmobil models which she created purposefully for her court hearing.

The model showed the court chamber, complete with Victorian furniture, The Magistrate, the blonde deputy registrar, the defence council and the prosecution. Jokingly she even pointed to the court usher and said that she could not make one like him!

Her defence council, Dr.Joe Gilio, was also in the mood for humorous and effective argumentation. He asked the police superintendent what cars he's owned, and when Supt. Magri answered that he had a nine-year-old Peugeot and a Skoda before that, Dr.Giglio asked Magri whether he had sought authorisation from Skoda to sell on the car.

Even though Magri must have seen the trap that he was about to walk into, the Superintendent had no choice but to say that he had not asked for Skoda's authorisation and that no official complaint was filed against him.

Oh how I would have loved to have been in that court room for such an Ally McBeal moment. I would have paid just to get a glimpse of the smirk on Giglio's face.

Of course, with the way our justice system operates, as much sense as the Skoda argument makes to us, there's absolutely no saying on how the case will be decided, but that's another story all together.

The point that I'm trying to make is that play is one of the most underestimated perks of being human. Playfulness is a sign of emotional health, so before you start to shake your head in dismay and saying 'm'ghandiex x'taghmel' you might want to think again, and start customizing those Playmobil figures to resemble your family home. If all your models are working in separate rooms, you'll know you're heading for trouble!