Jackie Britton Blog: 6th, 7th and 8th week in Malta

Monday: I turned my thoughts to my grandchildren…..although 3 months is a short time to be away…a lot has happened to my youngest grandchild’s life. Nancy has got 6 teeth….started crawling - started standing up on furniture….started to talk and chuckle like mad! She also had a few days in hospital with an infection but, I am happy to say, she is fine now. I think Jo, her mum, is tired as she chases her around the rooms all day! Ruby May turned 10 years old and went to Chessington Zoo on her birthday but I will be home for Indi (who’s going to be 6 years old) and Rive’s birthday –I can’t believe he is going to be 17! He wants to learn to drive so is saving like mad for lessons…which I am told cost anything up to £99. The whole of my 12 lessons cost £99 in 1976!! It’s great to be able to Skype each other and have a chat. We only know 5 people in Malta…which is Marisa and her family and Hans – a guy we stayed with once with AirBnB. Marisa pops down for coffee if we are around and we go upstairs to her apartment as well. She is there on her own quite a lot as both her kids are out all day so she loves the company. When she goes to her partners house, in Mosta, which they renovating (they will move in together at some point) she asks if we want to go and it’s lovely as we always see some part of Mosta we have never seen before. They have the famous Mosta Church, (where a bomb landed during the WW2) and there is a really good market there too. The narrow streets are full of character. Of course we chat to some of the bar staff at the beach bars we go to who are very friendly and courteous -they are hard working especially now as it’s getting busy with those pesky tourists. We have also been lucky enough to have visitors….Jenny and Ian and Julie and Mick from our village came out for 6 days; we’ve had loads of laughs and good times together.

Tuesday, we went to the beach….after a restful day yesterday and had a swim in the sea! It was cold to begin with but after swimming for 2 minutes it got warm and felt good…... mind you, your body goes numb anyway! It’s a sandy bay but since the storms, heaps of seaweed has been chucked on the shore but the council have started to clear it now - I hope they are recycling it! When your swimming, every now and then you get these extra waves of warmness (is that a word!). I really don’t know why that happens……even John doesn’t know!! Anyway, I love those warm bits! Wednesday I went to the hairdressers in Mosta to have my colour done….as the sun and swimming in the pool turns it into straw! I was pleased with the result and it cost me 27 Euros instead of £60+ in UK. On Thursday it was our first wedding Anniversary, it was 6.30pm when we tied the knot last year! Reflecting, we have had a great year – a new beautiful grandchild (Nancy), visiting our family in the West Country and Spain, where my brother and his wife live (their house is phenomenal and the surrounding areas and mountains are stunning - Spain is a beautiful country and we want to explore it more). We have done so much in a year ….and the honeymoon is still not over! We got ‘wined and dined’ in the evening by our Maltese friends, Marisa and Josef who wanted us to remember our first anniversary in Malta. We went to a restaurant called ‘The Lord Nelson’ which has won the ‘Good Food in Malta ’ award for 13 consecutive years and Certificate of Excellence Trip Advisor winner and you can see why - we had great food. The owners love what they are doing and told us they couldn’t possible open another restaurant as they couldn’t be in both at the same time…as they want to deliver the personal customer service. (By the way….the owner is a cousin of Josef’s so we had extra special treatment). If you come to Malta…you must go to this restaurant.

The name Lord Nelson was probably adopted, during the years following the 2nd World War, as a mark of respect to the many British Service Personnel who came to live in this, then, small village. In the cellar there is evidence of tunnels that have been hewn out of the rock by hand.
One such tunnel crossed under the road to number 6/8 St Anne's Street. Architecturally, however, the style of the building suggests an earlier start, possibly the 18th century. There are the remains of an ornate well head in what used to be a large courtyard, the building which goes back a block in St Anne's Street once formed part of this house. Together with the very fine statue of Our Lady of The Immaculate Conception on the St Anne's Street corner this indicates that the house could have been built for a village dignitary. The current owners family took over the business in 1960 and operated a wine bar and wholesale tobacconist here. In one of the rooms on the ground floor, then a separate premise, an uncle had a business filling cartridges with gun powder. Later on local firework enthusiasts began holding their meetings in an upstairs room, and went on to become one of the leading clubs of Malta, forming the 15th August Pyrotechnics Society in 1983, Jimmy Camillieri (owner) is a founder member.

Friday was partly restful as in the afternoon we cleaned the villa and made up the spare room in preparation of our friend’s arriving tomorrow. Saturday we went shopping early and walked back to the villa…then another walk down to our beach bar for a lunchtime drink of fresh orange juice for me and Cisk for John. We are doing a lot of walking! I also have a little project ….to rearrange the garden in our part of the villa. There are a lot of dead flowers in the borders around our courtyard so I am going to make a rockery and am acquiring cuttings from here and there to plant up when ready. John and I collected big stones from the beach for the rockery that I intend to build.

Sunday – We went to the airport as our friends flew in just after midnight. In the morning we took a stroll into Mellieha and Mellieha Church with our friends to show them where we were and just meandered the rest of day…..stopping off at the beach bar, of course. A lovely day with Julie and Mick and an end to our 6^th week in Malta. The next day (Monday) we borrowed a car and took them to Mdina (The Silent City) which is set high on a hill and positively buzzing with history.

Mdina Cathedral is dated back to AD60 - if not before as this was the first church documented. The Cathedral was destroyed by an earthquake in 1693, only the Apse survived. (Apse is the semi circular/vault where the Alter is usually placed). The new building started in 1697 by Architect Lorenzo Gafa and in his wisdom had already decided to strengthen the building as he had already a wealth of experience as he was 58 years old at that time. He struck a balance between the light-hearted earlier churches and the ponderous…with richly ornamental mouldings and an amazing central window and a patchwork of multi-coloured marble gaudy slabs for the floor. The Cathedral has a nave ceiling painted in fresco in 1794 with scenes from the life of St Paul (whom the church is dedicated to).

A little note of interest…..to connect London and Malta together.....the two cannons outside the Cathedral that date from 17^th century, were once taken to London (together with other historical objects) for display at the Artillery Museum in Woolwich (1988). After all that culture we decided to go to the Ta’ Qali, craft village. Julie and Mick could see the local crafts that Malta produces and I could look at the pottery shop,as I wanted to purchase a large box of broken tiles to make a mosaic….I do have a few ideas of what to do with them. We drove them around the bays in the north of the island…but it was so windy we didn't stay long, but a joy to see the sea being whipped up with so much energy as it’s usually calm.

Tuesday the weather is still very windy and cloudy – it’s a shame that the weather had changed, but our friends took it in their stride. We decided to go by bus to Valetta (Capital) as one hour on an air conditioned bus and your there. We walked around the main and side streets, then had lunch overlooking some amazing buildings beside the sea and thought we would get the ferry across to Sliema….but when we got to the quay - it wasn’t running due to the windy conditions, so back to get the bus. The fearsome wind subsided so after our journey home, we went to watch the sun go down at our beach bar….another lovely day with lots of laughs and ‘knocked out’ due to the wind. Wednesday….their last day, we took it easy sunbathing, as the wind subsided and went out in the evening, with Marisa and Josef, to the restaurant where we got married. Julie and Mick couldn’t come to our wedding and they wanted to see the old flour mill that they had seen in our photographs and it was a nice way to end their holiday and have a Maltese evening with food and dance. On Thursday we took them to the airport and the plane that was taking them home bought in Andrea for a week…so that worked out well. It was hot today, which Andrea was pleased about, but our friends loved ‘the taste of Malta’ we showed them and said they would be back to see more.

What was to come - no one could possibly imagine as after a few nice days relaxing and going to the beach, on Sunday Andrea was taken into hospital with acute pain and was kept in until Monday afternoon. After extensive examinations, the Consultant wanted to see her again, but she told them she was going home on Wednesday so they gave her an extensive report (which was more than Lewisham Hospital ever did in the 4 years she has been under them). She didn’t return Wednesday as she was still unwell - so we did some thinking and spoke to Marisa and made an appointment to see the Consultant in his private clinic, whom she saw at the hospital and the end result was that she will see him, early in July, to have an operation to rectify her problems before it happens again (and it will!)

Malta healthcare is 5^th ranking in the World and Europe opposed to UK being 12^th(I guess because of the small population and a ‘State of the Art’ hospital built 4 years ago) – and with the EHIC arrangements within the European Community….it is fine to be treated in Malta). I am happy to report that she is feeling better after plenty of rest in the sunshine…..and with pain killers will return to the UK Monday 16th to clear up her workload at home before returning for her operation early in July. Andrea has been a great help, in her convalescence, in helping John create a new website (for the family villas where we are staying) using Wordpress. He has been a great pupil and embraced the new technology….so well done Johnny and thank you Andrea!

Monday 16^th June…We go to airport to say Au Revoir to Andrea and pick up our friend Jan who has flown in from Plymouth – her first visit to Malta, as although invited to our wedding, couldn’t come due to work commitments. It will be lovely to have her with us for a while.

My goats chees on Aubergine with prunes!