Thoughts on the end of 2008

Now, to close the page on this year, I bet anything, dear friends, that you expect me to reminisce - in my usual long-winded tradition - about all the landmark events of this year. I bet you would expect me to speak of the war in Aghanistan, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or some other rather depressing coming from the Middle East these days. Or, you would expect me to pitch in on the financial crisis, how it has knocked on the door of France - the failing banks, the layoffs, the faltering consumer confidence. I am afraid you might be deceived since I intend to do no such thing. Really.

This year, I decided to close this year with some humour, since I suspect we might all need it for next year. And as I look around me in France, I hardly find anything sufficiently funny to talk about - well, yes, there is Sarkosy, but that one has been picked on this year to the point that even I feel bad for him! Not so far away though, in Italy, the local authorities seem to have a much sharper sense of humour. How about the following for a holiday riddle?

Do you know what homeless people in Milan are having this holiday season? No, not nothing - common, I am not so cruel to make fun of hungry people! No, not soup and croutons, not chocolate cake, not meat roast - wrong, wrong, wrong! They will be having caviar. Yes, that's right - it is not a typo - they will be having caviar, not the artificially produced, but the real kind, all that curtesy of the local mafia. To be precise, it is not the mafia that experienced a bout of sudden generosity towards the homeless (on the latter, I suggest you see a brilliant film Gomorra that came out this year), but the Milanese police (not, that is not a type of pizza). Apparently, the Milanese police has crecently confiscated loads of illegal caviar in Italy and decided to give it away for holidays!

Lesson to be learned: next time you think of your holiday destination, I suggest you give serious consideration to Italy. After all who knows what else can the Italian police confiscate from the local mafia?


Happy 2009! For more of the same, and some of not the same, please keep visiting!