Jan 2016 - Week 4

A January sunset viewed from our terrace

Monday 25th to Sunday 31st January 2016

Monday I went to Sliema. After a cappuccino at French Affaire, I hiked to Manoel Island and had a look around there. The marina was full of boats of all shapes and sizes. The largest of the lot, Indian Princess, was registered in Douglas. The weather continues to be stunning. Unfortunately, that does bring out pasty white tourists in their short shorts and string vests. Some guys were even walking about town without their shirts on. That looks silly even in summer! Sam was still away so rather than cook I went out for dinner. Trouble is, many if not most restaurants close on Mondays so my plan to go to our local Thai didn’t pan out, nor the new Thai in town, nor Tagine, nor Churchill’s, so I ended up at Peking even though I swore a year ago that I’d never go back there. It hasn’t improved much!

Tuesday I went to PAMA to pick up our free mineral water. Whenever you shop at PAMA they give you vouchers to collect the water from a stockpile at the back of the car park. We now have 60 litres in our cupboard! I shopped at Scotts and cooked a chilli con carne for us to have for dinner tomorrow once Sam has returned home. For dinner I had excellent pork chops.

Wednesday Sam came home! We continue to enjoy fabulously clear weather and I did a great one hour power walk along the promenade. For dinner we had chilli con carne with rice and tortilla chips.

At about 10pm I went out on our terrace and was stuck by the brightness of the stars. The sky was completely clear, which is not unusual, but it was as if some omnipotent God had turned up the starlight and pushed down upon the stars and I felt I could almost leap up and touch them. (What do you mean God is obviously omnipotent? That is only obvious if you only believe in one God.) And there were tens, hundreds, thousands of stars. Despite the light pollution of St Paul’s Bay, I could see more stars than any night previously.

Thursday I hiked from Mistra Bay around past St Paul’s Island and the abandoned salt pans and uphill to Fort Cambridge. On the way back I came across an English couple in their late 60s/early 70s. She said the weather was perfect. I sad, “The snakes are certainly out in force.” “Snakes?” she said, horrified. “I’m sure you’ll be fine,” I said, “Just keep an eye out!” She didn’t look happy. Sometimes even I wonder at my sense of humour. But the truth is, it really is perfect snake weather. The mornings warm up quickly with cloudless blue skies and virtually no wind. The thermometer on our terrace read 33°c today. Our cold blooded friends slither out onto the rocks to warm up, only to sneak off to the shade again in the afternoon to cool down. For dinner we had left over chilli con carne.

Friday we went to HSBC in Bugibba and spent 45 minutes form filling so that they could record Sam’s new passport details. We were then sent to HSBC in St Paul’s Bay to get a copy of the passport verified! God preserve us. In between we stopped at Miracles for a snack lunch; Sam had bruschetta with feta and I had a cheese and onion toasty. The cappuccinos were great as always. At my Italian class my teacher returned my previous week’s homework comprehension marked, “Molto bene!” That’s encouraging. Pepperoni pizza for dinner.

Saturday we went to Munchies at Golden Bay and had full English breakfasts which were pretty good. I think that’s only the second cooked breakfast I have had since coming to Malta. We had a walk on the beach and then went to Mgarr for a wander around. It’s a small inland town but has a huge church in its centre and loads of restaurants and bars. It seems like quite a nice place if country living is your thing. It has a butcher called Snow White and an adjacent restaurant called The Hungry Wolf. Bizarre.

For dinner we tried a newly opened Thai restaurant in Bugibba, the Chang Thai. It was very good. The seating is spread out over all sorts of nooks and crannies with booths and open tables, traditional seating and the floor level seating that only makes sense if your knees are less than 30 years old. The service was excellent and friendly and the food very good and we will certainly be going back very soon. I have reviewed it on my blog.

Sunday we had a lazy day shopping, walking, reading and watching TV. Sam sunbathed then cooked us a great dish of lamb shanks braised with root vegetables, flavoured with anchovies, chillies and fresh herbs and served with baked potatoes.