Trolley Talk

When seasoned journalists Charles Flores and Godfrey Grima met at the supermarket, they spoke about yoghurts, vegetarian cheese and, of course, local politics:

The first time I met Godfrey Grima, the journalist who has, over the past three decades, undoubtedly lead the small, restricted band of Maltese scribblers who have had – and some still have – a close association with the international media, particularly that of the UK, was in the press area of the old House of Representatives in Valletta. We were covering the parliamentary proceedings for two rival Maltese language dailies. It had actually been my first real foray into that arena, having earlier had to ask passers-by, in what was then Kingsway, the way to the island’s highest institution. When one considers that kind of baptism of fire straight off my sixth-form bench, I understandably had neither the heart nor the gall to ask my News Editor for details as to where our erstwhile representatives met and toiled on our behalf. So entered the green young pauper of Maltese journalism into the abode of the elected princes..

What do two ageing journalists pushing loaded supermarket trolleys talk about in the middle of the frozen-food section of a store? The cost of living has risen lately, dear boy, but have you tasted the latest foreign cheap wine? Visit the frozen-food department and you’ll find everything is really frozen except the prices. Once upon a time when you felt the need to have a good cry, you went to the cinema; later, soap operas on TV did the trick; now it’s the supermarket.

No, Godfrey and I simply and almost automatically carried on with the debate we had started on television weeks before on the country’s economic crisis. What crisis? I insisted it was a crisis and he continued to maintain there were indeed problems but no crisis point has been reached. We talked and we argued, sometimes we surrendered corridor space to fellow shoppers giving us the odd look or two, as we instantly turned boring supermarket visits into something more worthwhile..

And so it went on, right in the middle of the new supermarket, for a longish time. A far cry from our first meeting many years ago, but possibly more entertaining. We discussed the economy. Crisis or no crisis. But we also found time in between the yoghurt and the vegetarian cheddar to talk about the ministerial status quo, the local political scene as it is developing, idle or not so idle time being spent in these early twilight days of ours and, oops, back to the economy, stupid.

Godfrey still needed to take the lift to the floor above where I had already been to. It’s where they keep the wines and spirits, favourite fare with journalists. So we finally bid each other goodbye, retraced our steps, gave the trolley a push back and forward, allowed a family of jolly trolleys to ramble past us towards the cashiers’ point of no return, and it was finally back to our shopping...(TMI 17 Mar 2006 broken link)