August 2015 Blog

 

Saturday 29th to Monday 31st August 2015

 

Saturday we returned to sunny Malta!  We have loved visiting family and friends this past three weeks and it may be some while until we see them all again, so it was good our visit was for so long  As for the weather, hmmm.  Our abiding memory of England and the Isle of Man is of grey skies, wind and rain.  In our first week in the Isle of Man everyone commented how “nice” the weather was but we are too spoiled for “nice”!  We deplaned in Malta to warm sunshine, a few puffy white clouds and just the gentlest of breezes.  Perfect!  We unpacked, shopped, sunbathed and napped.  In the evening we went to Miracles for drinks and pizzas then we went on to The Ice Cream Factory for spectacular ice creams.  It was a great homecoming made all the more special for having Lauren with us.

 

Sunday I picked up the car and did chores while Sam and Lauren sunbathed under cloudless blue skies.  The hills look brown now, any hint of green grass long banished by the relentless dry heat.  The Cypresses and other evergreens hold out bravely but I have noticed a marked decline in bougainvillea and oleander blossom since we went away three weeks ago.  As expected, most of our potted plants have died but, ever the optimist, Sam will plant anew as soon as September has shown its tail.  The exceptions are mint and chillies.  Even we can’t kill mint and no doubt the chillies will avenge their neglect when we eat them!  Lauren and I went walkabout in the afternoon, buying ice creams and a couple of CDs, and I bought a man-bag!  We stopped at Cheeky Monkey for cocktails which were very good; you could even taste the alcohol so I think they were properly made.  For dinner we had pre-marinated chicken wings from Scotts, pork chops seasoned with smoked paprika and savoury rice.  The pork chops were amazing!  We played cards and UNO, the first of many times this week no doubt.

 

Monday we went to Café del Mar for the day.  It was scorching so we spent a lot of time in the pool.  Lunch was good again.  Sam had an Angus burger with fries; Lauren and I shared a chicken Caesar salad with a side order of fries.  For dinner we went to Al Sultan, Lauren’s first experience of Lebanese food.  She loved it, as we do.  A bonus is our regular waiter from Miracles, Joe, now works there, so service was excellent too.

 

Saturday 1st to Sunday 9th August 2015

 

Saturday was too hot to go out so we worked.  Ian came around for dinner.  Sam cooked us pan fried prawns with garlic and chilli followed by baked sea bream with fennel and roasted vegetables and potatoes.

 

Sunday was yet another too-hot-to-go-out day.  This heat wave is going on forever!  The locals are moaning that it shouldn’t be this hot in July – over 55°C in the sun again today.  We did some work but also lazed in front of the air conditioning watching movies too.  Sam had left over fish and veggies for dinner; I had a flatbread.

 

Monday we heard it had rained for 5 minutes in St Julians.  We take that report with a pinch of salt.  Rain didn’t stop us going out though.  I drove Sam to Naxxar for a physio appointment.  While she was there I went for a cappuccino in a local café.  I sent it back because it was cold.  The barista told me off; apparently if I want hot coffee I should make that clear when I order it and that I should remember that for next time.  Next time?  Why would I ever go back to somewhere that sells me cold coffee and then gives me stick when I complain?  For dinner Sam had a rib eye steak with chips (she loved her steak); I had pork chops with chips (very tasty if a bit chewy).  We bought the meats from Scotts and pretty good they were too.

 

Tuesday as usual at the moment brought us a sea first thing that was as flat as glass.  We seem to get very little if any wind this time of year.  By each afternoon the sea is slightly choppy from boat wakes.  There are dozens, probably hundreds of boats buzzing about so that’s not surprising.  I had a busy day today.  I had a long meeting in the morning going through a new website with a client and a longish board meeting in the afternoon and a gazillion other work things in between.  For dinner we had tuna melts with chips!

 

Wednesday was a strange day what with Lauren having her tonsils out (I wish I was there to give her a hug!), Mum getting over her eye operation from yesterday and today also finding out that my piano teacher in the Isle of Man had died.  I haven’t seen much of her in recent years but she always inspired me with her encouragement, enthusiasm and uncomplicated friendship and I liked her eccentric outlook on life and it’s sad to think she is no longer among us.  I distracted myself with a trip to Sliema in the still sweltering heat to buy new flip flops.  Apparently it is freakishly hot here this year and we are “enjoying” our hottest summer for 10 years.  I had another excellent guitar lesson and for dinner we went to Al Sultan again, this time with Robin and Leslie.  It was excellent again.  The owner couldn’t have made us feel more welcome, the food was brilliant (mezze again) and with beers, wine, water, liqueurs  and a generous tip it came to £12 each!  We went to the Ice Cream Factory for pudding or should I say for ice creams; super dooper as always.

 

Thursday we had a nice time in the morning chatting to our landlady for about an hour.  She is a hoot.  I like people who always see the ridiculous in everything and everyone, including themselves.  We shopped, worked, sunbathed and watched TV – a little bit of everything today.  A guy walked by on the prom below us with a huge lizard holding onto his back and shoulder – it was at least two feet long.  What on earth can possess someone to do that?  The day actually turned out quite cloudy for a change so Sam managed to spend a good deal of time on the terrace.

 

For dinner Sam had a rib eye steak which she said was great – is was certainly huge!  I had a couple of pork chops which were fantastic.  I like to cook pork chops for a long time in the oven.  This renders down the fat and intensifies the flavours.  I don’t add any oil because plenty of oil comes from the fat as it cooks.  I season the chops with generous amounts of ground black pepper, smoked paprika and sea salt.  The chops today were amazingly tender and reminded me of why pork chops, when good, are my favourite meat.  We bought the meats from Scotts.  We are finding their meats are very good but their chicken less so. 

 

Friday we did a deep clean.  Godda have the place looking good for Lauren in three weeks’ time!  Got through a shed load of work and went out to Miracles for dinner.  Pizzas and beer as usual and very good as usual.  Went to the Ice cream factory.  This time Sam had coconut and I had cherry and also Ferrero rocha.  Excellente senor!!!!!

 

Saturday we packed and tidied ahead of tomorrow’s trip to the Isle of Man.  We are not looking forward to the journey; two flights and a six and a half hours lay over at Gatwick.  Sam and I both feel a bit unsettled.  We are both excited to be visiting family and friends again of course, but we are also sad to be leaving Malta, even if it is only for a short while.  We love it here and feel a deep attachment to Malta out of proportion to our relatively short time here.  It is a bittersweet moment.

 

Late morning it suddenly went very dark, the wind picked up, we heard half a dozen loud claps of thunder, felt a few drops of rain and it suddenly went bright and clear again, the whole event lasting no more than 15 minutes.  That’s the first rain we have seen since March.  There is a faint possibility we may see some more when we are in the Isle of Man I suppose.  But it was a very violent 15 minutes.  A boat pulling two paragliders in the next bay along from us at Mellieha was blown onto the rocks, the rope snapped and the paragliders were blown violently off course, crash landing in a field.  Apparently they have both have minor injuries but, boy, do they have a story to tell.  And there was a tornado in Pembroke, filmed for Facebook of course.  We heard that the rain in Sliema was torrential leading to localised flooding.

 

Flatbreads again for dinner as we have emptied the fridge ahead of our trip away.  Oh, and just to clear up some confusion, when I say flatbreads I mean Goodfellas frozen flatbreads which are basically pizzas with extremely thin and crispy bases!

 

Sunday we flew off on our trip back to the Isle of Man so BFN and I will suspend this blog until I return.