Last few weeks in Malta

 

We are now counting the days….not because we want to go home but because we know it’s only just over 2 weeks left. It will be good to see my family and friends to catch up……they are important to me.  There’s not much we want to do specifically, only to enjoy the sunshine and the experience of living in another country. OK, you could say in Malta they speak English: they drive on the same side of the road as UK; but it is immensely different.  Their culture is different and the Maltese language is very unique – it’s a combination of Arabic and Italian and English and because they are Catholics they celebrate feasts in every village throughout the year, with processions and music and religious services that go on all week.  The streets are lit up with strings of brightly coloured lights, like we have at Christmas.  They have images of Jesus and the Madonna in life-like sizes which are also lit up.  They drive like most European’s .....extremely mad, in so much they overtake on a bend on a hill….and believe me….it’s hilly in the Mellieha.  Of course there are accidents quite often, you have to anticipate that the driver waiting at the side street as you go by, will pull out in front of you …..and they do!  Some of the roads are dire and some are new dual carriageways – the work is ongoing so they are improving all the time but it all adds to the fun. I have driven 2 cars since being here…..a Chevrolet and a Qashqui……both entirely different to drive….the Chevrolet being easy to drive and the Qashqui is like a tank!   The Maltese eat a lot of pastries (sweets and savouries) like the pea, cheese and woudy’s pattizzi (woudy’s are sausages that can have cheese in the middle) all these are wrapped around a thin filo pastry. The sweets are made of dates, ricotta cheese or almonds.  (I love the ricotta cheese ones).   

We are now doing the same things most days, swimming in the pool at the villa, going to the beach, although we do walk in the day, it’s so hot, therefore better to move about after 4/5pm or go early in the morning before 9am.  I adore the evenings, as they seem so long sitting out in the warm air, reading, eating and drinking.  There is a little bar called 'Rendezvous' which was just at the top of our road...we kept saying we should pop in but we finally did and met the couple, who were Scottish, who ran the bar.  They had been in Malta for many years, the guy had a job something to do with the Architecture in Malta working for the Government and his wife ran the bar, doing the cooking and just about everything else.  One night, Andrea, John and myself were having a nightcap there, when we saw Angelo, the guy who was Manager at the Maya Beach bar in Mellieha Bay.  He had just become a father, for the second time -  a son, who they called Gabrial (their daughter was 12 years old). Naturally, it was drinks all round, he was so excited, uplifted and exhilarated to have a little boy.  His wife and child were doing well, as we subsequently found out, but she had to cope on her own, as he only got one day off a week in the tourist season.  It was a little bar that Maltese and British went to.  One little old man, sitting up the bar, quietly and unobtrusive, on the night that Angelo became a dad, was offered a drink from Angela to celebrate.  He sat there quietly, got up and left....having been offered a lift home ....but declined. He shuffled off and we were told he was a Millionaire/Billionaire.  He came out of Eastern Europe and lived in London, washing up in restaurants, then soon he opened his own restaurant, having watched the chefs /cooks carefully do what they do, he then opened more in Malta and bought property in Malta after the war and that's how he made his money! No doubt, he did it for his family, just a Maltese people do for their family. Buy property, invest in the tourist industry, work all hours, with 2/3 jobs and work dam hard!!  

6th July: On my 66th birthday, we had a BBQ……the planning and cooking was a joint effect between Marisa and us (Andrea, John and me). Invitations went out to Marisa’s family and extended family….(her mum and dad, auntie, sister and brother in law and their daughter.  We invited Hans who we stayed with last year via the Airbnb website, who we have seen a few times whilst in Malta…. and couple of other people who couldn’t make it. We lit the BBQ and prepared the tables in the shaded area by the pool….then I had the biggest surprise of all….James, Joanna and Nancy were in front of my eyes……I couldn’t  believe it!  I just didn’t know! How did they all keep the secret, when Marisa’s family arrived, John asked Marisa’s sister to explain it to her family in Maltese, what was occurring (how mean!) as I was involving myself with starting the food on the Barbie and John kept saying …wait….as we have other food first – we will eat in stages….but I still didn’t hit on to something happening or why he wanted the delay.  I spent a wonderful week getting to know Nancy as she was just a little baby of 8 months old, when I left but now she’s a little person with at least 100 words that she understands ….eg. her name, the word ‘No’  ‘Dog’ ‘Wait’ and ‘All gone or ‘All finished’ etc.  Joanna also goes to baby signing classes to enhance her understanding of language, which is great. So she signs all finished when she’s eaten and she knows no more food….she eats everything…..we gave her beetroot which she hadn’t tried before and she loved it!  She says at least 6 words and tries to form others.  She says ‘Mama, Daddy, Auntie, Dog, Sea, and we thought she said ‘Jo’…..which was hilarious.  She loved the sea, sand and swimming pool and actually took her first steps on the patio area and in the swimming pool,  which we caught on video. Andrea, her auntie, has put it to music (‘The walk of life’ and ‘Splish Splash I was taking a bath’ which most people over 50 will know!).  It a great video and a lovely keepsake, I wish I had videos of my children!  She is nearly 11 months old and such a joy and I think she will definitely be walking before she is one year old on 15^th August! (I can’t believe where that year has gone!) We spent a lovely week with them enjoying the outside life and the memories we made will be with me forever.

Saturday 12^th, we took Jim, Jo and Nancy  to the airport at 9am and got back ‘home’ in time to do some packing  (as I bought some extra things in Sicily and Malta which have to be added to what we bought out) - but we have 3 suitcases and 2 small hand luggage so we should be OK.  We will also leave some clothes and some of my craft work behind as we are returning in 30^th September for 5 weeks. In the evening we went to a new restaurant , with Marisa, Andrea, John and myself, that has been set up by a guy (Patrick) who we met at a beach bar last year. He told us he was leaving the job and starting a new venture on a roof top restaurant, pool and bar.  It is in St Paul’s bay which is really beautiful.  (We had been once before as Patrick invited us for a drink a couple of days before the opening and we met Giovanni, the chef, who actually cooked us all a meal, even though they officially opened 2 days later).   Today it was a windy night and quite chilly and we all went in our summer clothes and because you get a 360 degree view of the sea….the wind was coming at us in all directions.  We decided to huddle together and take a selfie of us shivering with the only cardigan, that I bought (I don’t do cold!!) stretched between Marisa and myself.  We did have a laugh and after a few drinks and a meal and nightcap…we felt warmer! I also think that the wind dropped a little too! We wish them good luck with their new venture and we are looking forward to eating there again when we return to Malta.

Sunday 13th :   Today is our last day…..as we leave mid-morning on Monday.  We were invited to have lunch with Marisa and her family (which was delicious) and after that, we all ended up by the pool sleeping and having our last swim.  In the evening we watched Germany win the world cup with Marisa and Josef.

Monday 14^th July - Our last day!  We stuffed the last things in a bag to give to Marisa to hang on to until we return on 30^th September. We were all ready to leave to go to the airport, said our goodbyes to Marisa and family (and Andrea as she was spending one more week there with her friend who was arriving at 4pm today), as we got a lift to the airport with her brother-in-law  (Saviour) as he was already going there and had 2 spaces for us in his people carrier car.  We were joined in the car with a Dad and his three teenage children, who had been staying at one of Saviour’s villa’s, which made a pleasant trip to the airport, and moreover, took our minds off the fact that we had just left the place where we stayed for 3 months, which is not a long period of time, but we had the ‘time of our life’ there! Memories, laughter,  drama’s  (Andrea being rushed into hospital)  and friendship.  We have ‘dipped our toes in the water’ now and I/we want to go for a ‘long swim!’.

We were picked up at the airport by Stefano,  (Andrea's husband), who has been working, studying and looking after Rive, and the dog,  (no holiday for him…bless). We decided to pop to see Stefanie and the kids on the way home...(they also couldn’t visit us but are coming out for the whole of August next year!)... before doing some shopping and returning to Kingswood.  Upon arriving home we were pleasantly surprised to find the garden a little overgrown but OK as our friends, Julie and Mick have been cutting the grass and collecting what mail we had as mostly all our bills are online so you can imagine...it was mainly junk!

Thanks to all our friends who visited us, which was really lovely - all had never been there, so we enjoyed showing them the historical sights in Malta. We know some of you want to come back next year, when we are there, and stay at the 3 bed villa next door to where we stayed….so that will be great.   Thanks to Jim, Jo and Nancy who came out to visit, (shame on you all for keeping that a secret!)….but most of all thanks to Johnny  for organising our trip to Malta and Sicily amongst other places. I had a ball!

We are going back to Malta for some more sunshine ,on 30^th September this year, after our visit to see my brother and his wife in Spain, two weeks before.  We leave the UK for Spain on 16^th September, in time for Johnny 68^th birthday! We are staying for 5 weeks and return next year for 6 months in May, until end of October….so bring it on!

Thanks for reading my blogs on Malta- some boring some, I hope, interesting.

Check out      www.maltapremierholidays.com

Which is the website (that Johnny built , with Andrea’s help as mentor), for the owner/s of the villas - Marisa and her family). Tell your friends, family, work colleagues, milkman, postman and neighbours……all to come to Malta!!

 I leave this thought with you......."If you try, you might. If you don't, you won't!

Pictures of our visitors and owner of villa/s:

 Ian & Jenny

 

Julie & Mick

 Andrea & me!

 

 

The 2 & 3 bed villa & pool with Marisa's villa above

 

 Nancy with daddy (my son James)

 

Jan & John

 Cocktails!

 

 Nancy and mummy (Joanna)

 

 Jim & Jo (night out without baby!)

 

 

 Hans and me (on my birthday)

 

 

Matthew, me, Marisa, John & Pam at Maya Beach Bar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Johnny & Jackie

 

10th week in Malta

 

Monday:  Another glorious day…with temperatures reaching 35 degrees….and even 29 degrees in the evening, which I love, they are warm with a slight breeze and it’s great going out in a summer dress and eating al fresco by the sea.  Most of the beach bars have TV screen/s up now to watch the world cup matches….so you can sit on or by  the beach and watch TV! Obviously England is out of the running….but it’s good to see some of the underdogs coming through with some good football and goals.  Who’s  going to win? …..With the little knowledge I have of football, I think one of the South American teams or Holland!

It’s getting busy now …even our little beach we go to -  which is a bit of a walk or a car ride away (ie. not one of the main beaches that is on a bus route) is getting busy, although around 5pm people start leaving the beach and that’s the best time ever, to take a picnic, swim or read and watch the sun go down.  The school children break up the end of June, although they usually go to the bigger beaches that are easy assessable by bus. The national transport  (Arriva Buses) is a good service. There are no trains on the island ….well only a miniature one that takes you around  Mdina!  Most young people have cars, as in the UK and you see a lot of really old cars like Hillman Imps and Cortina’s – usually driven by older people.  The road system is getting better, there are new bypasses and ongoing work on the roads, it’s a slow process as some of the roads are appalling, John calls them ‘Luftwaffe’  roads as they are uneven and bumpy as hell.  It all adds to the fun!  Saviour, Marisa’s brother in law, has let us borrow a Chevrolet – a nice car which is very welcome when we want to go further afield, go shopping or go pick people up from the airport.   

Tuesday:  John and Jan have gone up in a Cessna plane for a ride around Malta.  This is the second time John has been up up and away…..a first for Jan, who was a little nervous but exited. Matthew Grech, the pilot, is building up his hours to become a commercial pilot, which involves night flying aswell.  Although only 21, he is an accomplished young man.  John was piloting the plane when he flew above the villa in Mellieha….he circled a few times, which I thought was quite low, and although I was waving like mad, I later found out that he couldn’t see me!  Jan, Pamela, John and Matthew enjoyed it immensely - but I ‘chickened out’ as the confined space and heat wouldn’t have agreed with me.  (Confined spaces have a starring role in my nightmares whether in a lift or deep in the ocean trapped in a ship that sinking. I try to overcome it…but find it difficult.  The worst thing is when John books a room on the 9^th floor in a hotel……...I have to walk up all those stairs as I can’t go in the lift!!!). 

I enjoyed the morning to myself reading  a book called ‘This Boy’, the first biography of Alan Johnson, a Labour MP who served as Home Secretary from June 2009 to May 2010 and before that filled  a wide variety of cabinet positions in both Blair and Brown governments including Health Secretary and Education Secretary. He has served as an MP for Hull West and Hessle since 1997. I like him especially when on ‘Question Time’ on TV, as he is opinionated and honest and has known hardship. The book is about his deprived childhood growing up in London, being brought up predominantly by his sister,  as his father had left home and his mother was constantly sick due to a heart condition in which she passed away when he was 12. This book takes him up to the age of 18 when he got married,  and it shows that, not all Politian’s came from a privileged background. It’s the era that I was raised, albeit I am 2 years older than him …so lots of memories came flooding back. It’s a really good read and the sequel’s out in September…..which I have already ordered on my Kindle.

Wednesday:  Jan and I are going to the beach to swim and sunbathe,  as the little bay we go to by some boat houses, is rugged, quiet and beautiful.  Not many people get down to it....and the sea is always alive there.  It is stony and not sand but with swim shoes on...it's lovely.  The fish come close to shore so if you snorkel, as Jan did, you can see loads of fish.   

Thursday: It is our friend Jan’s last day with us as she flies home at 7am……so we left the villa at 5am to take her to the airport at Luqa.   Thankfully the journey there and back, as it was early, was very cool.  When I got back at 6.30am I decided to do some gardening before it got too hot! Not that I know how to prune palm trees and succulents like Yukka and Aloe Vera so Google comes in handy.

It is Stefanie’s birthday today so we skyped in the evening when she finished work, She is being taken out Saturday dancing with friends and family, and Sunday by her sister to see Stevie Wonder….whom I saw many years ago.  He is remarkable and can play almost any instrument.  I expect ‘Happy Birthday’ song will be sung!  A verse of the song is dedicated to Stef!

'Cause we all know in our minds  
That there ought to be a time
That we can set aside
To show just how much we love you

Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you!

I love that song!

Friday: It’s Marisa’s birthday today and I made her a flower arrangement and a cake.  She came round about mid-morning and had breakfast with us and then we all went to the beach!  In the evening we had a Chinese meal in Rabat, with Marisa and Josef, which ended the day perfectly.

Saturday: The people in the villa next door have left so we can have use of the pool now. I am swimming everyday so the body is a little firmer….I guess it will go back to it’s usual shape again when I return to UK!

Sunday: We went to a market in Rabat as everything is cheap there but a good quality - I bought some shorts for 8 Euro’s. I love Rabat….with it’s narrow streets and big Church…is is also the home to the famous Catacombs …which were used in Roman times to bury the dead, as according to Roman culture, it was unhygienic to bury the dead in the big city.  We finished the evening by going to Armier beach around 5pm, to sit and read, as most people leave around 5…..we took a picnic (which was our evening meal) and left when the sun went down.  One of the waiters at the beach café Mambo, who we got to know last year and although we knew was leaving his job, told us it was his last day.  We had already exchanged email addresses the last time we saw him so we will keep in touch with Patrick.  Incidentially, he is going to manage an Italian restaurant in St Paul’s Bay - so we will definitely go there to eat sometime!  We have got to know quite a few people since being here, and in my usual garrulous way (yes, I chat to anyone!) and I think waiters in bars like a chat, as they work around 14 hour shifts with only one day (if lucky) off a week…so a little banter is acceptable!

Whilst here, I have become quite an expert on Ants….so John thinks… ‘Ant’ology (is that a word?). I sit out in our little courtyard early morning and late at night watching them. I actually think they are ‘Garden Ants’ as they are found in many parts of Europe and they are huge (well – 6 times as big as our Ants in the UK). They can condense all 3 sections of their body into one when they think they are in danger, and then their pointy pincers come out to attack! They stay in one place all night, as still as can be, then I look at them in the morning and think they are dead …but, oh no, they are alive and start running away! Strange! I have seen 3 or 4 together in a huddle……what’s that about…are they having fun or fighting and interlocked!  These Ants do not do what Ants usually do!!! (I am not mad only curious!). There are, obviously, different wildlife to UK, for instance, there are enormous flying insects with decorative fringed wings and when my Andrea, my daughter was here, she actually saw a bird swoop down, in flight, from the trees to eat it. I missed it as it happened too quick! Gecko’s pop out to get some much needed sun, and even a Chameleon ran through our courtyard and when he saw me…he puffed up every inch of his body to look big….I wasn’t impressed!  The bees are big too but don’t bother you and although you hear the birds singing….you generally don’t see them during the day only early morning or late at night! The island is full of beetles, around 95 species but they are mainly harmless – as is the scorpion (which we have seen). Birds of prey are seen hovering high on the cliffs, but I have no idea what type they are. (There has been much talk about the situation in Malta regarding bird hunting. Two issues are at steak….Legalisation of the hunters by the government who are in defiance of the European Birds directive and secondly the other issue is poaching (over and above the legalisation!). What the Maltese Government need to do is sort out the illegalities of poachers and change their mind about making it legal to kill birds.  (I can understand the argument about farmers not wanting the birds to eat their seeds or crops…as they need their crops to flourish as it feeds the Maltese people….ie you can’t import everything – it costs too much money. It would be nice to see more birds on the Island.

 We have 2 weeks left on the island…..boo hoo! Believe me….we are going to make the most of it! 

 

Where I swim

 

Further along from where I swim

 

 

Swimming in the pool at the villa

 

Sun setting over the bay where we swim

 

John and Jan

 

Jackie and Jan

 

Views from the Cessna

 

 

With Matthew (pilot) Marisa, John & Pamela (Marisa's daughter and Matthew's girlfriend)

 

Cake I made for Marisa's birthday (Almond & Mango)

 

Marisa's birthday present I made for her

 

Marisa on the beach on her birthday 

 

Silk flower arrangement I made for Marisa's mother