Editor's Blog Jun 19th 2012
Circus Maximus
Long weekends are the little nuggets of respite given to the working classes to break up what is potentially an all work no play situation. The summer festivities were in full swing and there was contentment in the air.
The Romans were really good at this, so good that they even developed it as a policy. Juvenal, a Roman Poet with a name that would never mature well, noted this in his satires, Panem et Circenses Bread and Circuses, a reference to the pacification of the Roman people through food and entertainment.
Keep the people fat, happy and feed any dissidents to the lions (killing two birds with one stone, as animal husbandry, especially for large felines can be expensive) a winning formula for any Government if you asked me.
No matter how much we like our long weekends; there are implications for the small business owners. Productivity drops right after a long weekend as people try and shake off the post holiday blues.
In my line of work it is almost as if nothing happens. Nothing newsworthy occurs. The news wires populated by tumble weed and the sound of a sad trombone. The big news corporations have to run stories that headline with Cat rescued from tree or the corset makes a revival.
But how much of Panem et Circenses is to divert attention from the real issues? The European economy is in its death throes, Spanish sabre rattling and the war on terror, which seems to have been absorbed like a fart in a pig farm, (But is still raging with daily state sanctioned assassinations).
Nevertheless, all seems right after copious amounts of alcohol and food, leaving you with the heavy feeling of crapulence.
The ever-popular Calentita night. Fireworks subdued, and not as big and loud as past displays. Is this an austerity measure or is it one of we really can’t afford it?
Either way, the summer spring festival is, if anything, my favourite time of the year in Gibraltar, with more events than you can shake a stick at. But don’t forget that there are many artists’, acts and gigs that are available all year round.
Right after Calentita I got myself down to the Rock On The Rock Club and witnessed the powerhouse that is Voodoo Monkey (with Guests, (TM). A show of such dominance and energy that I think I may have broken the three little bones in my one good ear.
Gibraltar needs the Circus and Bread, not to distract but to entertain, so that we do not wander further afield and spend our cash elsewhere.
Ed.
