Jan 2016 - Week 2

Winter storm, Malta style

Monday 11th to Sunday 17th January 2016

Monday I walked to Café del Mar and back. The pool there is still being renovated. In the afternoon we went to Mellieha for a walk on the beach. We also explored the town in the car. Mellieha is spread out across hillsides leading down to the sea. There are lots of large villas, some with stunning views to Gozo. Back home I made a carrot and chilli soup for dinner. Sam found it a bit too spicy so she had courgette “spaghetti” with a defrosted ragu bolognaise.

Tuesday I went for a haircut and got a slap on the head (literally) from Drew for not having given him a bottle of wine for Christmas! I swear I have the most abusive hairdresser in Europe, let alone Malta. Sam cooked us a great chicken casserole with chorizo, peppers and tomatoes.

Wednesday we had a catch up with our landlady. Amazingly our lease is due to expire in less than three months and we have agreed to renew it for a further year. John the handyman came around in the afternoon to sort out a few small jobs. In between, Sam and I both managed to fit in walks. We had left over chicken casserole for dinner.

Thursday I discovered an amazing new walk. There is a seriously neglected public park in Mosta. Actually, it has fallen into total disrepair. But it is situated on the top of a bluff looking down steep cliffs, across verdant farm fields, over the St Paul’s Bay conurbation and out to sea. And there is a path bounded by low stone walls that runs along its edge affording breath-taking views. From there you can see just how arable this part of Malta is. You can also see how the towns are spreading, like unchecked cancers on Malta’s very flesh. The park borders a senior school, I think, as there were several sixteen or seventeen years old couples lurking in the bushes trying to devour each other’s tonsils. Do you remember those days?

From there I drove on to Golden Bay and had an excellent cappuccino at Munchies. I hiked up around the peace garden, or what is left of it now that the notice boards have been removed. There were a few tourists about, all speaking Russian. I drove on again, stopping at the Cathedral in Mellieha; the views from there across the water to Comino and Gozo really are stunning.

That evening I made us a chilli. I went for a walk after dinner. St Paul’s Bay is dead quiet in the evenings now. The most noise I heard came from a garage whose owner obviously keeps tons of birds. The tweeting was deafening. Thank God we don’t live next door to that! It is odd. Malta has a strong hunting tradition where they shoot anything that flies. And yet loads of people keep birds as pets. We regularly see them – and hear them – in cages on apartment terraces.

A walk after dinner now offers deserted streets, umpteen bars brightly lit but all but empty, hardly any traffic and, I hate to say it, dog mess. It’s everywhere, worse even than the Isle of Man. It’s clear that the majority of dog owners don’t pick up the mess. And yet they all claim to pick it up. They lie! We have all heard them say, “Don’t blame the dog, blame the owner.” Well, most owners don’t give a toss. All I know is, if there were no dogs, there would be no mess so I wish some great plague would descend and wipe the B*****s out.

Friday we went to Palazzo Parisio for a cappuccino and a walk around their gardens. The marmalade orange trees were heavy with fruit, as were the palm trees. Birds of paradise watched on balefully, while pansies cheerfully lined the stone edged paths. Even the aloe vera were in flower. We had the gardens to ourselves, not unexpectedly this time of year. In the restaurant itself a few patrons were enjoying excellent-looking full English breakfasts. Our cappuccinos were certainly good. The resident cat looked appalled that it had to share its settee with a lady with a baby in tow. Cats really do know how to give people disparaging looks. Reminds me of my mother!

My Italian lesson seemed long. We spent most of the three hours describing rooms with their furniture and fittings and it all started to wear a bit thin. Also, the lady sat next to me spent the whole lesson sniffling a snotty nose so God only knows how many germs she passed on.

For dinner Sam cooked stuffed artichokes. It was a huge amount of work by her but I confess I was not a fan; they were flavoured with garlic and anchovies and fishy garlic is not my favourite taste. I ended up cooking half a flatbread instead!

The good news is that we have found Australian MasterChef on YouTube so that’s probably our viewing sorted out for the next few weeks!

Saturday a storm arrived, as forecast. It was still quite warm but we had a strong northerly driving in heavy showers. I managed a dash to the corner shop to buy milk but apart from that we stayed in. Fortunately we had a break in the showers in the evening and we went to O’Reilly’s for a couple of beers, then on to HOS, our new favourite Indian restaurant, for dinner. We started with papadums and dips then Sam has chicken tikka masala and I had a chicken biryani. It was very good again; in fact, the biryani was excellent! We were lucky with our timing. We got home only moments before a thunderstorm arrived with a torrential downpour.

Sunday we still had very strong winds, although the sun was shining. The bay looked beautiful with whitecaps chasing across the water and breaking on the shore. We went for excellent cappuccinos at Aquatica in St Paul’s Bay. It’s a recently opened café attached to a scuba diving club. For dinner we bought a fresh Sicilian chicken from our local butcher. It was fantastic – the sweetest, juiciest chicken you can imagine.