Go to Gozo…
I am just back from Gozo!
It’s one of the Maltese Islands, south of Sicily… I would definitely recommend visiting the island if you are looking for a quiet getaway.
The first thing that I pointed at after I hopped off the plane were the giant cacti…
Cacti in Gozo
It is everywhere!
You would expect the land to be barren when you see all the cacti growing and it is in places, but it is surprisingly green everywhere else. Every corner of every field is blooming with cabbage, potatoes, figs, lemons, artichokes and other things I didn’t recognise.
The roads are quiet and perfect for long meandering walks, all you can hear are birds, loads of birds and would you blame them for hanging around Gozo when the land looks like this:
Gozo Fields
This is a very Catholic island… The first give-away are the names of the houses; they are all named after Saints. I passed this house which was called “St Joseph” and another called ”In God we trust” and they often have a plagues like this on the front of the house too…
Holy Plaque in Gozo
One thing you sense immediately is how safe the place is. I passed several cars with the keys left in the ignition. The front doors of houses had keys left in them too… even the shops…
Keys left in the door - Gozo
Wherever you have Catholism in large doses, you have supressed sexuality; I found this torn porno magazine discarded in a hedge at the side of the road. Torn up in shame I imagine; guilt and shame…
Porno Mag in Gozo
The people of Gozo are warm and friendly.
Gozo (Malta) joined the EU in 2004 and they are now using the euro so it’s handy for the other countries in Europe.
English is their second language and all of the signs are in english. This makes it easy for dopey tourists like myself. The food is outstanding… They are fond of eating rabbits. I reckon they should start eating cats as the island is rampant with them… rampant!
The Moving Statue of Ballinspittle
So I am brushing up on my Irish at the Irish Centre at Hammersmith. I always like going to the Irish Centre, they have great goings ons there. I went to see Finbarr Furey there last year; I sat up in the front row in what reminded me of the parish community halls you’d find in rural Ireland.
Anyway, I was waiting in the foyer of the Irish Centre, waiting for my class and having a suppa soup when I looked up on the wall and I saw a painting of what had to be the statue of Holy Mary in Ballinspittle. The reason I say it had to be of Ballinspittle, was because there was an almerciful crowd gathered round her, arms folded all staring up at her expectedly. Among the crown of people was a “Mr Soft Whip” Ice cream van…
When I saw the painting, I said to myself “jeez thas funny now” and I only thinking of the moving statue’s the other day.
What in the name of God came over Ireland in the early eighties that led everyone in the country to believe that the Holy Statues were coming to life? What kind of mental state were we in at all? Ballinspittle didn’t know what hit it, normally a sleepy ol’ village; all of a sudden there were people coming in bus loads, travelling for hundreds of miles to the grotto, they had to pour concrete over the adjacent field to make a car park, the roads were widened to accommodate the traffic, two new jaxes were built, a couple of telephone boxes were put up…
It was mass hallucination at the grotto, everyone standing around, the rosary blasted out of the loud speakers and the crowds joined in, in prayer.
In its peak, prayers burst into hymns, it was like a big concert.
The prayers were interrupted now and then by murmurs such as “She nodded” or “Jesus, Mary and Joseph, there’s a tear rolling down her cheek, la”
People were claiming to have been cured and everything. Some deaf one said that she came home with her hearing intact, I don’t know…
I think it all came to abrupt end anyway, when a few fiends felt it was getting out of control and took the matter into their own hands. In full view of everyone, they climbed up to the statue wielding an axe and hammer, they took a few chunks out of the face of the statue, everyone sort of slowly emerged from the trance after that. The statue was replaced but the people stopped coming.
It’s the kind of thing you think back of and say to yourself: “did that really happen?…”
For proof that it all happened, watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZjM83wZmWw
I’d love to buy a statue… Can some one buy me one – I want a life size one…
