Oct 2015 - Week 4

This is how they store pumpkins in Malta!

Monday 19th to Sunday 25th October 2015

Monday we worked, we shopped and, (call the asylum) we went swimming. The sea was freezing! I managed about 10 minutes; Sam about 20. Trouble is, we feel obliged to make the effort. In another few short weeks it really will be too cold, so we need to make the most of it.

Sam was on one of her 2/7 days so for dinner she had pan fried chicken breast with leaves. I had left-over pork belly with rice. It was still fab! After dinner I went for a walk but my heart wasn’t in it and I soon ended up at Sotto Zero! I had rum and raisin and snickers flavours – am-az-ing!!!

Tuesday Sam had a lunch business meeting in Gzira at the Water Polo Club. While she was there I went to Fratellila Bufila at Tigne Point for lunch. I had an unusual Waldorf salad (apples, walnuts, celery, leaves and raisins) and a cappuccino which were both very good. For dinner I made us a vegetable and Chorizo soup which was delicious as always.

Wednesday I slaved over a hot laptop; so did Sam. For dinner we had baked boneless chicken legs served with lentils which I cooked in a tomato sauce – delicious.

Thursday Sam went to art class and on her way home bought a couple of Lampuki from a passing fisherman! They were huge. It was only when she got them out to cook them that she realised they weren’t gutted, so that was a bit of a messy job. She pan fried them, simply seasoned with salt, pepper and lemon juice.

Friday as expected was shopping, working, Italian lesson, pizza, bed! Apart from one thing. The right rear brake light on our car was broken so I took it to our local garage and asked if they could fix it. Four mechanics and a teenaged boy all took it in turns to try to remove the light fitting. There was a lot of head scratching, incomprehensible blabbering and shrugging and a lot of to-ing and fro-ing with various spanners. Eventually they managed to remove the fitting, replace the bulb and put everything back together again. I was wondering how much this was all going to cost. But the bill was only €4.20, that’s about £3! I couldn’t imagine getting the job done for less than 10 times that amount in the UK.

Saturday I hiked to Xemxija for a cappuccino then on to Golden Bay. It took a couple of hours, stopping to take photos along the way. I would have walked back too, but I already have a blister which is annoying. Sam and I went for a walk after lunch, window shopping and buying knock off CDs! We stopped at Sotto Zero. I had caramel ice cream and lemon sorbet. Sam has Zuppa Inglese, which is English trifle ice cream. She admitted the idea of it was better than the reality. For dinner we went to Miracles for excellent beer and pizzas.

It was noticeably quiet out and about tonight. A lot of the bars and restaurants were all but empty and there is certainly no need to book a table anywhere any more. Also, it’s much cooler in the evenings now; I actually wore a light jacket to go out for dinner and we saw a lot of people with jackets, hoodies, jumpers and scarfs. The tourists, of course, are still in shorts and T-shirts!

Sunday I went for a long walk all around the St Paul’s Bay, Qawra and Bugibba area. I haven’t done that for ages; not since before the summer, in fact. Sallini Gardens look exhausted, beaten into submission by months of dry heat. But the fountains persevere, the kids still play and the pensioners still sit on the benches reading their second hand paperbacks or struggling with crosswords. There is a new young childrens’ playground adjacent to Kennedy Grove. The discordant cries of the children seem at odds with the solemnity of the memorial. As I wander around the gardens I do see green shoots and signs of new life and I think within a month or so our countryside will have been transformed. Malta is a land of extremes which is one of the reasons it is so fascinating.

Some restaurants and bars have shut, victims of fierce competition. The world of hospitality epitomises survival of the fittest in ways Darwin couldn’t have imagined. At the same time new bistros, cafes, restaurants and bars have opened in a wave of optimism. I admire the spirit of these entrepreneurs but fear that reality will knock the stuffing out of their optimism. There are dozens if not hundreds of bars, cafes and restaurants in this area and few manage to stand out from the crowd.

Sam stayed in and cooked an amazing lamb casserole with onions, carrots, celery, garlic, anchovies, peas and potatoes. For all the jokes, she can cook like a pro when she puts her mind to it. It does take her all bloody day, though! After dinner I went for a walk and, (this is becoming a bad habit), I had an ice cream. Just one scoop this time; Kinder Egg flavour. It was delicious. (Which is, of course, the whole problem. If it was rubbish I wouldn’t keep going back.)