Happy New Year dear readers far and wide. Any size you are, any persuasion, any colour or creed, and any sexual propensity you might have or suffer from I bid you good things for this ending and the new beginning.
These are times of expectancy—not just for women with babes on the way but also for us all who decide to go on a resolution binge. Usually we binge like hellish fiends over this “festive” season, then we promise ourselves, our spouse or partner and our physician that we will surely stick to just proper eating and go on an exercise regime that will see us remain healthy till Kingdom come. Expectancy obviously then leads to more expectancy of broken resolutions.
It’s a time also to resolve not to be horrible to others, to keep promises and to stick to proper work regimes. The lazy ones promise to start doing their bit and not scrounge and the workaholics promise to lessen their workload and find a proper life balance. It’s a strange time of year where we promise so much and then proceed to feel guilty at not doing anything we promised ourselves or our god, idol or protector.
Life therefore goes on and January 1st is just like every other day.
And next year will be the same as the past ones with a few different frills. We will have a new president and controversy will reign again. Joseph Muscat will promise much and say many lovely meaningless words then go on to do what he thinks is right. He smirks away in the knowledge that he is king for another 4 years and something. No one can take his kingly rule away from him. The riled Nats will go on bickering and acting all holy and smitten. First they ruled us like lords, then they were booted out mercilessly and now they sound like pure virgin souls. They want the presidency but who in his bright, right senses can imagine Joseph Muscat giving the presidency to Lawrence Gonzi or a pure blue man?
The citizenship débacle will all be forgotten and the scheme will be sold in bulk by all and not just by Henley Something. Sadly even here the chance to go for consensus has been lost and the political parties have not reached agreement. It was sad to see it happen—and sadder to hear the prime minister say he had reached consensus. What he must have meant was that he agreed with some stakeholders—in my book that hardly means consensus. A sorely sad tale for our political parties that this has happened and no extra days and weeks were allotted to iron out differences and for both sides to compromise some more.
To all the new citizens—the buyers of our citizenship—of this fair isle I bid you a happy new year as well. May we see you at least once a year in Carnival when all of us can truly say we are citizens of Malta, land of fun and rivalry and where all floats on in the reign of the King of ridicule.
Whatever it is you do and whatever resolution you wish me to stick to may you have a great year and may your dreams turn to reality, your wrongs be righted and all our national demons be dumped.