Malta’s current addiction to the speculation surrounding the latest developments in the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder case is how the country’s gossipy grandmothers feel all the time, they themselves have confirmed.
“Whereas the rest of you need a major scandal to whip you up into a frenzy, we get the same adrenaline rush from overhearing Mr and Mrs Caruana across the road having an argument,” said Cetta Fenech, 76, as she stepped out of church after Sunday mass in Naxxar.
“Why are they arguing? Did one of them cheat? Are they getting divorced? What about the children? So many things to discuss with the other nannas at tombla,” she said.
“I heard the teenage daughter is pregnant, although it might just be that she’s put on a bit of weight. You see? This is like heroin for us. You can keep your rumours about big business mafia conspiracies,” agreed her friend, Mary Abela.
“Grace told me the boyfriend is a foreigner, possibly even black. You wouldn’t find that out from constantly refreshing all the new websites, would you? No, this is good honest daily gossip,” added fellow nanna Doris Camenzuli.
“This won’t be doing any favours to Mr Caruana’s father, what with his heart condition and everything. Everyone’s joking about how all the suspects are ending up in Mater Dei, but no one thinks about Mr Caruana’s poor father, except us,” chipped in Karmena Xuereb, who is also the president of the Our Lady of Lourdes Prayer Group.
All the nannas agreed that they would pay more attention to the story if it turned out Mario Deguara who owns the iron monger’s next to the local council had something to do with it.
“I always thought he was the journalist-killing type,” said Cetta.
