On 30th April 2004, the long-awaited day when we would finally become EU citizens was just hours away. I still remember, back in the days of the elections the year before, moaning about how long we would have to wait to officially join the European Union. Now, the time was finally at hand.
Something like this happens once in a lifetime. Many of my friends were going to Valletta to enjoy the celebrations. Some of them told me to meet them there to celebrate together. I went, and I didn't regret it. It was such fun, and the atmosphere was so great, that I pity the poor souls who stayed at home and watched it on television. My mother kept telling me that I would see better on television and it would be more comfortable, but I retorted that she was a bore and went.
Even before I left home, I was expecting large crowds. However, three things about them surprised me:
During the 1pm big break at school, I received a pleasant, unexpected visit. Alexei Mifsud, one of my best old school friends who now studies at MCAST, came to the school library while a few of my friends and I were there. We spent the whole break catching up with what happened since the last time we met, and suddenly the discussion turned towards the festivities that were to take place that night. Both he and Christopher Busuttil wanted to meet me in Valletta to celebrate Malta's membership with the EU that night, so we agreed when and where to meet and waited... for the evening to come.
Our plans went to the wind, however, when we went to catch the bus. The long queues that lined the streets meant that we all would definately arrive in Valletta later than we had agreed. I was driven to the Birkirkara terminus to catch the bus, and my eyes bulged in despair as I saw a queue that was so long it had to even bend. With no other choice, I stood in line and waited my turn. While I waited, Alexei phoned me to ask what had become of me. I told him I was still waiting to catch the bus, and that I would phone him as soon as I had arrived.
Meanwhile the queue moved steadily. Although there was a long queue, the buses were efficient and a new bus came in every time one was filled. Chris was less fortunate, however. When I told him about my situation and the long queue, which meant a certain delay, he messaged me in reply:
Hehe same here! I am going to end up walking!
To my surprise, I saw the towering head of Mr. Saliba in the queue for the bus. I am not 100% sure whether it was him or not, as he was a good way ahead of me in the queue, but it certainly did look like him. After 20 to 30 minutes waiting in the queue, I boarded the bus. I did not manage to talk to Mr. Saliba as he boarded the bus before. But on my bus, I met another person I knew - a neighbour this time.
I had not taken Chris's "I am going to end up walking"
seriously. To my
surprise, as we approached Floriana, I saw hundreds of desperate souls walking to
Valletta, having given up hope of getting there by any other means of transport.
Chris did not walk, however, as I discovered later.
As soon as I arrived in Valletta, I phoned Chris to see if he had arrived:
Even Chris had given up catching the bus, and was preparing to board the boat. Meanwhile I went to City Gate and tried to call both Alexei and Jeffrey Sciberras (who was accompanying Alexei). Strangely enough, they both had their mobile phones turned off, and I couldn't get through to them. With nothing left to do, I walked down Republic Street alone to pass the time, continuously calling them in the hope that they would eventually turn on their phones. They did not.
On the way down, I met some people from our school. First there was that usual gang of Year 9 idiots, who like pestering Sixth Formers for no reasons, and who I ill-fatedly meet wherever I go. Then I met Kevin Bamber, who is two years younger. Further down the road, at Pjazza Regina, I met my own brother, accompanied by his girlfriend and her sister.
I did not go much further down and soon turned back towards City Gate. It was a long time since I had heard from Chris, and I was expecting him to arrive any minute. Going up, and cursing as I was trying to call Alexei and Jeffrey, my attention was drawn elsewhere as Gernot called me. Another school friend. Nearly reaching City Gate and still unable to trace Alexei and Jeffrey, I sent them both a final message and stopped calling them. I did not hear from them again.
When I got to City Gate, I still had not heard from Chris, so I called him myself. He said he had just arrived, and told me to wait there. I did just that, and five minutes had not yet passed when he walked up to the gate, and his parents followed up behind. I laughed as they explained their situation with the boat:
Before I had left home, my father had told me a little about where we could not go because of private parties, and the main lookout points to see the show. The best place was probably to go out of City Gate and go round to the city walls to the coast road. I told the Busuttils this, and we did just that. Going out of City Gate, we turned left and went round, past a very unpretty sight of drunkards watering the plants growing on the walls, to a garden guarded by policemen. Major Mifsud was walking along the pavement. We went round it, down a flight of stairs, to a raging crowd below. There was a sea of heads down there. This was Crucifix Hill, where we stayed until the show was over.
We merged ourselves with the crowd and made our way through the people down the road. We saw several old Edwardians on the way down, including Matthew Sammut and Sebastian Grima (the rest I know only by sight). We also met Mr. Micallef Trigona. We looked in surprise at the people crazy enough to carry drinks into that sea of people. We were even more surprised to see someone carrying a pushchair. There were other people who sat on the pavement and stayed there... so if you weren't careful enough you could fall over them. As we went down, we soon realised that the crowd was too dense and could not go further. Thus began our tough march back upwards.
Going up was worse than going down; not at all for the fact that it was going uphill,
but rather because we were going against the current, and people were pushing and
squashing and sandwiching other people. Poor Chris was spinned round three times, and
I was sandwiched several times despite my small size. On the way we met Stephanie
Satariano, and had a good laugh for two main things that happened. First, Chris was
opening his mouth to say that he saw someone else he knew when a girl turned round and
her pony-tail ended up in his mouth. Secondly, there was another girl being carried on a
guy's shoulders, who complained: "Someone's face is in my ass!"
There were also
three Maltese hamalli holding their noses saying "1, 2, 3 boss!"
The fat one
actually did fart. Eventually, we managed to go back near the stairs, and stayed there,
as the show would start soon.
While we enjoyed the music while waiting for the show to start, a voice boomed
from the speaker, saying something like "In 30 minutes, we shall be European
citizens"
. People shouted out things like "No shit"
and "Why do you
think we're here?"
A slideshow, projected on Fort St. Angelo, about Malta and the
European countries and the people who represent our country began at 11:30pm. Lawrence
Gonzi and Ludwig and Julie were also featured. I was lucky because there were some people
on my left who kept commenting about them, and they were funny. Because of the fort's
structure, the projection was kind of cut in half, the bottom half being displaced left
and the top part displaced right. When two babies appeared on the fort, one of the men
on my left said "Dak
int bla xaghar, u l-iehor jien bla xaghar!"
When Lawrence Gonzi's bust was projected,
and his head was displaced right and his body displaced left, they said
"Gonzi tilef rasu!"
Edward Engerer's
brother, who was on Chris's right, got really pissed off when a child went on her dad's
shoulders and blocked his view.
The announcement that "In x minutes we shall be European citizens"
was repeated when there were 15 and 7 minutes left. When just seconds were left, the
atmosphere became like that of New Year's Eve, and a countdown was projected on Fort
St. Angelo. 13... 12... 11... it was brief, and a great cheer filled the air when it
reached zero. Fireworks lifted into the sky as the projected slideshow went on and the
lightshow began, and there were also boats bearing the flags of the European countries.
The show ended with a colourful play of laser lights.
The show only lasted 15 minutes (midnight to 12:15am). After it, we went back up the stairs and walked to near Fort St. Elmo where the Busuttils had their car parked. They were kind enough to offer me a lift.
Just when we thought we had met enough people we knew, the actual main course of people was on the road to the car. We met some Form 5 students and Tristan Tilney passing through the bus terminus. Then we met Mr. Vincenti with some French students and parents at Republic Street. Just seconds after, Randolph Busuttil and Christopher Fenech passed by. As we walked down and turned left, I thought I saw Ms. Fiorini, who teaches Maths in the Middle School, and who I know because we were on the same trip to Spain last Easter. Again, seconds later, Mrs. Micallef (English teacher in the Middle School) passed by, by car.
When we reached the car, we remained stuck there till after 1am, as the cars were moving about 10 metres every 10 minutes. Eventually we got out of it, and I got home at 2am.
As I went home, my mother repeated, for the fifth or sixth time, that I would have seen better had I seen the show on television. I told her to shut up and dived into bed. I, at least, had the satisfaction that I was there. I celebrated Malta's EU membership with the rest of Malta. I did not stay home and warm my bed. Take that, mum!
