November 2014 Blog
Monday 24th to Sunday 30th November 2014
Monday we all woke up sneezing for some reason! Benadryl soon sorted that out and we set off for a truly touristy day. We bussed to Valetta and after a visit to the Upper Barrakka Gardens, we had breakfast at Café Cordina again. Lauren had a chocolate croissant, I had a pea and ham arancino and, believe it or not, Sam had a slice of Swiss roll. Very strange. We went to see about The Malta Experience but it turns out that it is a cinema so we gave that a pass. We can watch films at home! Lauren and I went to the Archaeological Museum where there is a special exhibit of Malta’s history in 100 items. It is excellent. Then we went to the Lascaris War Rooms, also excellent. We met Sam and wandered around the shops, then went to the Co-denominational Cathedral. It’s astonishing, with dizzying amounts of gold on such a huge scale that you feel you have entered the set of a Hollywood historical drama. The walls are dripping with gold detail and artwork, including an impressive Caravaggio. The domed ceilings tower overhead, covered in massive painted works depicting various religious scenes. We wanted to light candles for Mum and Dad. Unfortunately, the modern version of that is that you put a one EURO coin in a slot and an electric candle lights up for 15 minutes. Very naff, more like something you would find at an amusement arcade, but we did it anyway. Some of the confessionals had electric fans inside them. Lauren speculated that the priests may get hot listening to the sins people confess to! For lunch we sat at an outside table of a restaurant right by the door to the restaurant. Only it turned out that it wasn’t the restaurant’s door, it was the entrance to the public toilets! It wasn’t as silly as it sounds though, as the toilets were designed by Tracey Emin, so they looked chic enough to be a restaurant. We had burgers and chips and I had a strawberry milkshake. Lauren is a bad influence; she’s making me eat like a teenager again. She even made me go into the Haribo shop (which, incidentally, sells booze and fags as well as sweets).
That evening we had a cocktail in Bugibba Square and then went to Peking as we didn’t want a big meal. Sam had crispy aromatic duck with pancakes, Lauren had lemon chicken and I had crispy beef with chilli with egg fried rice and for dessert Lauren had deep fried ice cream and I had banana fritters. That’s our idea of not having a big meal! The entertainment was provided by a new waitress who had obviously been told it was her job to clear away glasses. She kept asking if we had finished with our glasses, even though they were still half full. After a while, Sam had had enough of this and asked if they were running short of glasses. The next time she just snapped NO! Fortunately the waitress saw the funny side of this and probably learned a good lesson about service too!
Tuesday the prom was slippery in places from overnight rain for my early morning power walk. Humidity had returned in earnest and it felt like a storm was brewing. We decided that today would be a shopping day. Shopping in Malta is a million times better than shopping in the Isle of Man so Lauren was keen to take advantage of the opportunity, particularly with Christmas fast approaching. Lauren and Sam had a great time and I bore it well, and I will leave it at that! Med Asia wasn't great tonight. We have been there three times now and our conclusion is that it's a great place to go for the ambiance, fun and noisiness but the cocktails have about as much alcohol in them as baby milk and the food comes from Iceland. We will go back there again, but only for the fun and we will drink beer there rather than their fruit-juice-posing-as-cocktails and go to a decent restaurant to eat. Malta is a weird place when it comes to food. In Sliema the visitors and residents both have money to spend, but it is difficult to find many decent restaurants. In Qawra, there aren't many visitors right now and I suspect most residents (expats) watch their pennies, yet there are lots of good, even great, restaurants. We are having an eating out bonanza this week with Lauren here so our diets are shot to hell!
We have just discovered a new restaurant, just around the corner from our flat. It is called Simply British and looks somewhat unprepossessing which is why we have passed it by until now. Anyway, it turns out it is owned and run by a Michelin starred Brit who likes to cook good pub grub. So, if you want great steak and ale pie or fish and chips or liver and mash, look no further, all for about EUROs 8 including chips and veg. Don't know how he does it. At the other end of the scale, we have Lovage, a fantastic, modern, stylish place with superb food. Two of us eating a three course meal with a bottle of wine struggle to pay more than EUROs 30 a head.
As far as possible our philosophy is, embrace what is good, ignore what isn't, and you will be a happy camper! So, support your good restaurants and avoid your bad ones like the plague!
On a slightly more serious note, I have to say that meeting people of our ilk is proving elusive at the moment. The people we have met so far are, on average, some 15 years older than us. Qawra is like a retirement village for British expats. They are friendly and interesting enough, but it would be nice to meet a younger crowd. I do believe that you take on the mind-set of the people you interact with and I am not yet ready to talk hip replacements and play bingo. I rather suspect that to stay young we should be living in Sliema. If Lauren were to move to Malta, living in Sliema would be a no-brainer. For older people, living in Qawra makes better sense, because it is so peaceful. Sam and I are stuck in the middle. I think on balance that Sliema is beckoning at the moment! The other way Sliema knocks Qawra into a cocked hat is in its promenades. In Sliema you can walk for miles in either direction. In Qawra it’s the same walk every day. It's a lovely walk, but the same walk none the less.
The day ended with a thunderstorm, as anticipated. Fortunately we got back to the flat just before the skies opened and we stood on the balcony watching the lightning and the torrent of rainwater pouring down the roads.
Wednesday morning rain stopped play! Lauren and I went to the supermarket and got caught in a thunderstorm on the way back – we got absolutely soaked! Sam cooked us a brill brunch – bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes, baked beans and toast. Then while she worked, Lauren and I went to the Classic Car Museum. It was great, some 80 cars along with all sorts of memorabilia – model cars, posters, motorbikes, bicycles, boats, boat engines, radios, ghetto blasters, TVs, typewriters, duke boxes etc. But as you would guess, the cars were the stars, fantastic English, American, German and Italian models from the 1930s to the 2000s, mostly in pristine condition. After that we went to the Aquarium. I wasn’t bothered (I’ve seen it twice before) but Lauren was keen.
We came back to find Sam had put up Christmas decorations because today would be our Christmas day with Lauren. The skies didn’t clear so we played cards in the afternoon, Uno and Hearts. Then Sam cooked us a delicious Christmas dinner – roast chicken with all the trimmings – and we pulled crackers and opened presents. Sam had filled a Christmas stocking for Lauren with all sorts of bits and pieces in it. Lauren bought us mugs printed with favourite photos from happy holidays. Last Christmas we bought Lauren a painting-by-numbers, a scene with leopards. She had painstakingly painted it and gave us that as a present too. It is already very precious to us and will hang on our wall as a happy reminder of her visit with us. I lost a vote (they ganged up on me) and we had to watch both Bridget Jones films!
Thursday we headed off to Mdina and Rabat. It was great to visit Mdina without it being overrun by tourists. It was actually quite quiet and we were able to wander peacefully and take photos without being jostled. I had a tasty BLT with my mid-morning cappuccino in a lovely spot looking across the fields to the Qawra peninsular. After the recent rains everything has greened up – the grassed areas in the old moat even looked quite English! We strolled around Rabat. Many of the shops were shut for siesta but it is a pretty town with lovely buildings. We found a great Maltese cake shop and I had a delicious fruit bun jam packed full of cherries, dates and other fruits. Lauren had a couple of small date cakes, a bit like date versions of fig rolls. She also had a great cinnamon cake. Sam abstained! We also bought a large slice of Christmas cake. I wonder if it will last until Christmas?
We got back to the flat mid-afternoon. Sam had a nap and Lauren and I played cards for a couple of hours; we had a lot of fun. Today was a red letter day again – the first time I have worn trousers since arriving in Malta. It’s just about cool enough for that now in the evenings, and it seemed appropriate for a visit to Lovage. And Lovage was brilliant again. Lauren and I both had carrot, lovage and cumin soup followed by peppered lamb fillets on a pea mash with roasted vegetables and potatoes. Sam had pumpkin and pancetta risotto, then a chicken livers vol-au-vent. We spoke to the chef and he says with one day’s notice he can cook a vegan option. Back home we played cards again – a late night all round!
Friday we went shopping in Sliema mostly for some final bits and pieces for Lauren. I bought a book to give to Sam for her to give to me as a Christmas prezzie! We decided to have an early lunch at Sliema Wanderers FC café. That may sound odd, but we have noticed that locals rather than tourists eat there. It was awful so add it firmly to the don’t-dream-of-ever-eating-there list. I ordered a big hot dog. It came in a impossible-to-get-your-teeth-through baguette rather than a hot dog roll, it was cold, the little bit I tasted revealed it to be a cheap and nasty brand and, believe it or not, they had poured lukewarm baked beans all over it. Lauren ordered chicken nuggets and chips; the chicken nuggets were from a frozen packet and not properly cooked. They were stone cold and not worth the risk trying to eat. Sam’s fish and chips were adequate but I suspect only because she was starving. We didn’t pay for my or Lauren’s meals. We were still hungry so Lauren and I had hot dogs from the car park hot dog van. The last one I had there a few weeks ago was great but, alas, not this time. The hot dog skins were inedible; it was like trying to chew my way through the sleeve of a PVC jacket. They went in the bin! Our belief that finding decent food in Sliema is like finding a needle in a haystack has been reinforced.
We had an afternoon playing cards. While Sam went to her art class, Lauren and I did the tour of the various ice cream shops/parlours and after a lot of searching we found one that sells fantastic Italian ice cream with loads of different flavours on offer. I had pistachio and cherry, Lauren had Kinder and Kit Kat! We found a nice pub then went to meet Sam and saw her painting. It’s really good! Returned home to eat pasta with pesto and played more cards.
Saturday we were greeted with the strange sight of at least a dozen big container ships at anchor in the bay. We wondered if they were waiting to refuel. Apparently offshore refuelling is big business here. By refuelling in international waters, the big commercial ships can avoid VAT. Sometimes over 70 ships can refuel just offshore here in any one day. Sam and I saw the line of lights of them on the horizon one night – it looked like new land had appeared. Today it turned out that the ships had simply come round to this part of the island to avoid 3 metre waves on the other side. Lauren and I bussed over to Golden Bay for breakfast – chocolate and cherry muffins with a cappuccino – yum, yum. We wandered over the headland to look at the views but it was a grey, windy day so we didn’t linger. We walked through the peace garden. This time of year the flowers have died back and the overriding scent is of pine. The return journey was in a minibus, not uncommon this time of year on quieter routes. We had a very near miss which had the driver swearing loudly out of his window. More cards with Lauren while Sam finished her work, then it was off to Café del Mar for lunch. We had a lovely time and good food – burgers and chips for Sam and Lauren, a chicken Caesar salad for me. We went for a walk and Lauren dipped her toe in the sea. We took photos of a dead fish then back at the flat played cards again. In the evening we went to Peking, crispy duck with pancakes for Lauren and Sam, crispy beef with fried rice for me. We ended the day playing Uno, our last chance before Lauren flies home tomorrow.
Sunday was hot, sunny and calm. What a shame yesterday wasn’t like that! Lauren and I had a taxi ride from hell to the airport. It was as if the taxi driver was auditioning for the part of a stunt man on the next Jason Bourne movie. I complained, but to no avail. We won’t be using him again and it’s a good job Sam wasn’t with us! It was very sad seeing Lauren off again. I’ve gone from elation at her arrival last weekend to despondency at her departure this weekend. But she now has an iPad and will be setting up Skype so we should be able to feel in closer contact with her than by phone alone. The bus back took almost an hour and a half but I had it virtually to myself and enjoyed the sights on the tortuous route home. I had fresh cherries for lunch. We haven’t seen them for some time and I’m not sure where they originate from but they weren’t a patch on the local/Italian cherries we had earlier in the year. We felt de-energised after such a strenuous and busy week so had a lazy afternoon. Went for a stroll and bought Birds Eye frozen breaded haddock fillets for dinner – pretty awful, really, tasted more like chicken!
Monday 17th to Sunday 23rd November 2014
Monday I went by bus to the ID card issuing office in Floriana only to be told that ID cards weren’t being issued to foreigners anymore and that we had instead to apply for residency cards and that I had to go to the Evans Building in Valetta to get the forms. That’s the building we went to last Wednesday which had a sign up saying we had to go to Floriana! The person I spoke to at the ID office admitted that the government’s website gives the wrong, out of date information. So I went back to the Evans Building which was crowded and a bit chaotic. I taught everyone how to queue (it seemed like an alien concept to most of the people there) and after that everything was much calmer and more orderly. I think/hope that I now have the correct forms. I took the chance to wander around Valetta for a while, then took the bus to Sliema to look around some shoe shops. My toes are blistering from my walks in trainers in the heat so I am on the lookout for some sturdy open-toed sandals for hiking in. I had lunch – coffee with a pea cake - at French Affaire, a nice café at up-market Tigne Point in Sliema. For dinner Sam cooked blackened chicken with roasted vegetables.
Tuesday started grey but warm and without a breath of wind. The sea lay flat and unmoving, from a distance appearing solid enough to walk on. The humidity had returned overnight and as I set off on my morning walk it weighed upon me like a second skin, bringing with it an unfamiliar listlessness. By late morning the clouds parted, the air freshened and Sam was sunbathing by lunchtime. After work I went for a two hour hike around the streets of St Paul’s. There is still so much more to discover. The streets seem to intersect at odd angles, so it will be a while yet until I really learn my way around. For dinner, a 325g rib eye for Sam (five Euros) and 2 pork chops for me (one Euro, fifty cents), a real protein fix.
Wednesday we jumped on a number 12 bus and went shopping. I stopped off at Bay Street shopping centre in St Julians to have a look at Sketchers shoe shop for sandals but without success. I walked to Sliema about 2 km and along the way I found some sandals with removable back straps, so I’ll see if I can be blister-free with them! I met Sam and had a full English breakfast at Gorgios which was pretty good. We sat upstairs. The breakfast was EUROs 6.95 which is quite pricy but the uninterrupted views across the bay are priceless. Sam has done a good bit of Christmas shopping ahead of Lauren’s visit here next week. We are planning to celebrate Christmas with her next week, a month early, but it will be our only chance. On the bus ride home we must have had the slowest bus driver in Malta – even other buses were overtaking us. The bus riding experience here swings from one extreme to another. At night we went to Sun City for a pre-dinner beer and met an English chap who was full of information about restaurants but he has an off-putting manner of standing far too close to you when he talks to you. We ate at Peking for the first time. Not fantastic but better than alright and we will definitely go there again. I had mixed starters which were mixed, but not in the way intended. Then crispy beef which was a chopped chilli away from being excellent and very good banana fritters with ice cream. Sam had good crispy aromatic duck but while her beef with ginger tasted good, even she couldn’t chew her way through the meat.
Thursday we were woken early by building noise from above – the owner of the building is building himself a penthouse. Can’t blame him but it is a bit annoying. We met the landlord who came to paint the toilet seats (don’t ask) then we went to Scott’s to do a big shop ahead of Lauren’s visit. We are so excited – she will be here in two days! Apart from dinner – Goodfellas frozen thin and crispy margarita pizzas with added pepperoni, chorizo and parmesan (delicious) – we had a healthy day again. Part of the point of our moving from the Isle of Man was to find a healthier lifestyle. In the Isle of Man we were forced by awful weather to be house-bound and we became lazy and moribund. Today – 20th November, it was once again like a beautiful summer’s day – warm, sunny, still, blue skies, even bluer seas and feelings of optimism and enthusiasm. I did a five kilometre power walk in the morning, we then did our various jobs throughout the day – shopping, cleaning and cooking – then we went for a long walk before dinner, at least another five kilometres and, finally, I walked for more than an hour after dinner, marvelling at the star-studded sky and balmy temperature. I reckon at least 15 kilometres in all, maybe more like 20. It’s not typical but neither is it unusual. It has got to be doing us some good! Some good news is that the Irish bar a couple of doors down from us has closed for ten days annual holiday, which will cut down the noise – it normally plays loud music until at least 11pm each night. The bad news is that dozens of young English language students have moved into the property opposite. We seemed to have simply swapped one source of noise for another!
More promising news is that on our wanderings we came across two very nice, classy-looking restaurants we haven’t yet been to, both in St Paul’s. One specialises in fish, so we plan to take Lauren there as an early birthday celebration. The other has an unusually large vegetarian menu. We went in and talked to the chef and he says he can cook lots of vegan food, so it looks like a must for Sally’s visit.
Friday and it’s Lauren’s visit eve. In her honour we (well, mostly Sam actually) are giving the flat a spring clean. I went and bought Christmas cards to write – seems a bit early but Lauren will take them back with her. I had an unusual but tasty lunch today – curried baked beans sprinkled with cheddar. It seems Sam and I have found our 15 minutes of fame; we have been mentioned in this month’s BRA newsletter in the “Welcome new members” section. We can hardly contain ourselves! I pan fried chicken breasts seasoned with Madras curry powder and cumin and served them with rice pilaf for dinner – delicious.
Saturday started very early. I phoned Lauren at the Premier Inn at Gatwick at 4.50am to make sure she was awake! I went back to sleep okay but by 8am I was sitting on the balcony with a cup of coffee. Didn’t stay out there too long though, as the sun was quite fierce. Met Lauren at the airport – what a happy occasion that was! We went for a long wander around in the afternoon. Good news! We came across a butcher that sells frozen foods and he stocks Aunt Bessies Yorkshire Puddings. We passed a guy with a cat on a lead and the cat was up a tree! That night we went for a quick drink at Sun City then on to Tagine for poppadums, great curries, rice, naan bread, sweet cakes, mint tea and pastries. We really like Tagine – it’s classy but the food is unpretentious and the prices are good.
Sunday we took the bus to Mellieha. We wandered around the pretty (but noisy from traffic) streets, looked at the church and the surrounding views and generally soaked up the wonderful sights and sounds there. We had lunch at Debbie’s – ciabattas all round – bacon for Sam, ham and tomato for Lauren and cheese and tomato for me. Lauren and I finished with raspberry and caramel cupcakes – delicious! Mellieha is built on a hilltop and after lunch we walked down to the sandy beach, one of the biggest in Malta. It was quite quiet as the sea is cooler now. In summer the beach gets densely packed with tourists shoulder-to-shoulder. We got off the return bus at St Paul’s and walked back through the throngs of Sunday lunchers. For dinner we cooked chilli con carne with rice, also excellent, and watched Deception. Lauren and Sam went to bed early, so I went for a walk around the deserted Sunday night streets of Qawra. They were empty to the point of abandoned, dark and peaceful. These walks at quiet times mean so very much to me. I walk fast and my pulse rate increases and my mind empties and my body relaxes. I feel I could walk for hours and hours. I feel like I am in a bubble. I hear voices, I hear music, I hear cars and buses, and I see lights and I see smokers on the pavements and I see waiters in mostly empty restaurants but they pay a fleeting visit, barley disturbing my consciousness, like a gentle breeze upon my cheek, nothing to divert my wonderful sense of solitude. Very quickly I feel complete relaxation and contentment and a sense that all is well in the world. I know it isn’t, of course. The war planes and the warships are gathering here in Malta, ready to pounce on Libya again. As if bombing Libya will really make any difference to anyone other than the arms manufacturers. I saw an exhausted one legged man on the bus the other day; I doubt all is well in the world for him. But in my world, for this moment, all is well. We are healthy, we are happy, Lauren is here, Jordi is content at Uni and Malta is inspiring!
Monday 10th to Sunday 16th November 2014
Monday I got our new printer/copier/scanner working and worked most of the day. Lunch was toast (for a change) with blue cheese and a banana. Another red letter day – had my first guitar lesson with Miss Malta. There were 5 of us in the group lesson; a girl of about 8, a girl of about 17 and 2 other girls in their late teens/early twenties. We sat in a misshapen circle and Miss Malta (very pretty, dark haired, pale faced, dressed head to tail in black leather and carrying a whip) (okay, I made that up) moved around from one of us to the other setting us tasks, urging, encouraging, berating. It was the first time I have had my wrist slapped for years. She is not a woman to be gainsaid. She is just what I need. She set me playing chromatic scales but when she wasn’t looking I caught the 8 year old girl’s eye and played a blues riff and was rewarded with a huge grin. At the end the girls all lined up and, one by one, they nodded and said, “thank you miss” and peeled off to the left and departed. I was sorely tempted to do the same. At one point Miss Malta took my guitar and played a few bars and, boy, she is good. I feel inspired to learn and practise, so what more could I ask? It’s a bit of a chore having to get a 20 to 40 minute taxi ride each way (it really can vary that much depending on the traffic) but the taxi driver, Simon, was a likable Liverpudlian so the journeys passed quickly.
I came home to lovely smells. Sam cooked us baked, stuffed peppers for dinner. She stuffed them with peppers, onions, 2 types of courgettes, chorizo, goat’s cheese and tiny tomatoes that burst in my mouth with explosions of flavour. She really excelled with those and it will be fantastic to have them regularly. After dinner we went for a stroll and hardly saw a soul. It’s wonderful to feel such peacefulness, to see and hear the sea, to smell the salt and ozone, to look at the stars and the heavy moon, and all still in shorts and flip flops.
Tuesday I spent a frustrating hour and a half negotiating the maze that is the Malta Government’s website, trying to find out exactly what forms we need to lodge to get ID/residents cards, which apparently we will need if we are going to be here more than 3 months, and where to go for them. Why are all governments’ websites so cumbersome? Went to the Mediterranean Music shop in Mosta to buy a footstool for my guitar playing. I have added at least 1 hour a day guitar practice to my routine. Came back to find the air conditioner in the main bedroom had flooded the curtain and floor, so we are waiting for the landlord to get it fixed. With lots of phone calls time got away from us so we went to Flora; Sam had chicken Thai green curry with rice and I had Kung Po chicken with noodles followed by banana fritters and ice cream. All nice enough but the Kung Po was a bit salty – too much soy sauce I think. And they charged extra for the ice cream. They are so switched off about service that I have given up leaving them tips.
Wednesday we were involved in our first bus crash (it probably won’t be our last). The driver en route from Qawra to Valetta drove so fast and so badly that, as we heard one passenger say, “I thought he’d nicked it!” At one point he miscalculated the turn and slammed into the high kerb, bouncing off violently. The woman next to me (not Sam) gave a small scream! The kerbs are high here because of the downpours. He damaged the front edge of the bus (there is a picture of it in the gallery). Anyway, he carried on and we got to Valetta in one piece. We went there to visit the government department responsible for issuing ID cards. We got to the right office only to find a note that said that the department had moved to a new building in another town. They have forgotten to update their website – typical of Government websites, and it means my hour and a half searching the Malta Government site yesterday was a waste of time. We had a lovely wander around Valetta, though. We stopped at Café Cordino for coffee, pea pastizzi and arancino – ham, peas and cheese wrapped in curried rice, floured, egged and bread crumbed and deep fried. Sounds horrible but it was delicious and we will definitely have it again. We wandered the long way around Valetta to the Sliema ferry; between us, Sam and I took over 200 photos. We can’t help it. Valetta is just so damn beautiful. It still surprises me every time I see it that such a small nation can have such an amazing city. There is a new winter catamaran that takes us across the bay from Valetta to Sliema now. It is very modern and has a lot of indoor seating, ideal for the winter months. In Sliema we went to Gorgios and I had a cappuccino and Sam had a beer. We strolled around the shops and streets for a while and, guess what, we remembered just how much we love Sliema! It really is cosmopolitan with people of all colours, creeds, ages, heights, religions and goodness knows what else. There is a youthful buzz about the place that makes us feel invigorated. Sure it’s busy and noisy, but that is part of its charm. Living in Qawra is a bit like living in a retirement village. Would we rather be the younger ones in Qawra or the older ones in Sliema? The jury is out.
When we got home we looked at our 200+ photos, worked, and cooked spaghetti with a wing-it sauce made of onions, garlic, chorizo, peppers, courgettes, sun-dried tomatoes, baby tomatoes, passata, black pepper, balsamic, basil and oregano. Delicious! We have found our favourite Mutti passata again and it makes a huge difference. Watched The Pink Panther Strikes Back – I thought it was hilarious, Sam thought it was dreadful. Mind you, Sam likes to watch The Snowman and to listen to Barry Manilow. Need I say more? Do you know, she actually paid to see Barry Manilow in concert THREE times in her youth? I’m surprised she has any knickers left.
Thursday the landlord came and serviced the air conditioner so all should be well now. Out of the 118 photos I took in Valetta yesterday I have two that I really love and 1 that comes a close third. Three out of 118 is a good hit rate; I reckon I am doing okay if 2% of the photos I take are good enough to publish. My measure of a good photo is one that I want to linger over and one that I want to come back to (again and again). We all have different preferences – seascapes, landscapes, portraits, architecture, macro, still life, whatever – but I like them all, as long as they are interesting. I am particularly pleased as I think one of my photos from yesterday may be one of my best yet. I’m not going to tell you which one; go on the website and see if you can guess.
For dinner we had spatchcock chicken seasoned with blackening spice and served with salad – de-lic-ious! We watched a great film tonight – The Bridges of Madison County. It’s not a new film but we haven’t seen it before. Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood were brilliant, as always.
After dinner I went for a walk around Qawra. It now has a distinct feel of an out-of-season holiday resort. The main hotel is empty, the others seem quiet and almost neglected like boarding schools at Christmas. The sky was amazing. The broken clouds echoed the white lights of Qawra, Bugibba and St Paul’s and the gaps between hinted at the black emptiness beyond. If I reproduced that in Photoshop you would tell me it looked artificial. There was a slight breeze – probably a force two or three- but sufficient to bring in a wonderful scent of the sea – moisture, oxygen, salt and a je-ne-sais-quois (that I can’t spell) that I always get from the sea. The sea stirs something deep within me, a feeling of solitude, contentment, mystery, comfort, adventure, danger and insignificance but I also feel it beckoning; it engenders an acceptance of destiny, a sense that I am being embraced by Mother Nature herself, and I am ready to accept whatever hand she deals me. And the temperature is perfect; cool enough not to over-dress or over-heat, warm enough not to feel chilled.
Many of the various waterfront restaurants, some of which belong to the hotels, are shut and sit darkly abandoned. Chaplin’s, a bar-come-restaurant was about half full, so they must be doing something right. Sam and I had a drink outside there in the summer; I must try to persuade her to try inside some winter’s night, as it looks quite friendly. The Boathouse restaurant with its strange mix of Italian and Chinese cuisine has about 60 covers but had only 5 customers, a couple of other bars/restaurants I passed had few if any, All Saints appeared empty and Duo, one of our favourite restaurants, had 9 customers when they could take some sixty odd. English voices rang out from one bar with a prominent sign outside saying, “Help for Heroes”. That’s laudable, of course, but perhaps Britain wouldn’t need so many heroes if success didn’t so readily turn its politicians into war mongers.
It’s difficult for all bars and restaurants in holiday centres out of season, but I hope our favourites stay open throughout the winter. I think one challenge is that we like places that are welcoming or full of character or classy, and that’s not always the case here. I walked past one karaoke bar today at lunchtime, packed with drunk or tipsy English expats, where some lady was singing Pearl’s A Singer. I felt like tapping her on the shoulder and saying, “Yes, but you’re not”. That sums up a bit of a dilemma. We don’t want to be distant or unfriendly and nor do we want to be isolated but there is a section of the expat community here that isn’t quite for us. I think it will be a case of our choosing our venues quite carefully. Some of the BRA people we have met are friendly and Sam has booked tickets for us to go with them to the Christmas carol service at the magnificent co-denominational cathedral in Valetta in December, which should be quite something (as long as Sam doesn’t sing).
Friday I made a chilli con carne to freeze in preparation for Lauren’s visit. We have placed a cup of ice cubes in the freezer. We can check them and if they have melted there has been a power cut and we know not to eat the food. (Thank you Ian for that tip.) We are excited that Lauren will be back here a week tomorrow. We are looking forward to doing some serious sightseeing with her but, most of all, just to have time with her again. The bad news is that she won’t be able to swim with the tuna after all. It’s been banned as apparently the swimmers were stressing out the tuna and they weren’t putting on enough weight. Small tuna are line caught and transferred to the tuna farm, about a mile offshore, to fatten up. The Japanese fishing boats are stationed in the bay at the moment. They will be here for about two months in all, loading the tuna. The Japanese love their sushi! Sam had her second art class and she showed me a photo of her canvass when she got home. It looks unbelievably good for only two lessons. Are there no ends to her talents? (Did someone just shout out, “Cheese on toast”?) I went for a stroll before dinner and the waterside restaurants are all open again. Ate left over chicken with chips for dinner.
Saturday I went for a longish hike from Xemxija (at one end of St Paul’s) to the headland opposite St Paul’s island and back again. The coastal path was quite steep in places and I couldn’t have managed without my Leki stick. It was a perfect day for a hike – 25c, sunny and hardly any wind. If you get a day like that in August in the UK, everyone talks about it for weeks. One thing that struck me was the peacefulness. Malta is smaller than the Isle of White and has 450,000 residents and gazillions of tourists but for two hours I didn’t pass more than a dozen people. It is quite green at this part of the island with much of the land given over to arable farming of various crops. The views were spectacular but I’m running out of superlatives to describe them! The walk took me from pebbly beaches to towering cliff tops and back down to sea level again passing forts, farmhouses and disused salt pans along the way. I could see schools of quite large fish whiling away the day, seemingly without a care in the world. I think they are better off than rabbits here. Being a rabbit in Malta is a bit like being a duck in China – not good on the life expectancy front. The national dish of Malta is rabbit stew. However, rabbits are noticeable by their absence. In the Isle of Man you see either rabbits or their droppings all over the place but there isn’t a sign of them here. The rabbits that you see in the supermarkets here and the ones served up by the restaurants must be imported or farmed. On the way out I passed an exhausted-looking Yorkshire couple and cheered them up by telling them there was a bar around the next corner. On the way back I passed them again, resting on a convenient rock. I confessed I had been joking about the bar. I don’t think they appreciated my sense of humour. I also passed an Irish mountain biker, trying to mend a punctured tyre. “It goes with the territory,” he said philosophically. (Perhaps his name is Phil O’Sophical.) (Sorry about that.)
I found a restaurant for lunch at Mistra Bay in a lovely spot and sat on their terrace in a glade of palm and other trees. I was their only customer so it was wonderfully peaceful. A gorgeous little kitten came and sat by me for a while. Alas, the food didn’t match the location – lasagne and crème caramel, but neither worth writing home about. I also got covered in ants, so did an impromptu funky chicken trying to get rid of them. Good job I was the only customer. I jumped on a bus for the last stretch home. An English couple in their 70s sat in front of me but the woman decided to change seats while the bus was moving and stood on her husband’s foot. He said something to her that I couldn’t hear but she obviously didn’t like it because she slapped his face! Public transport sure is an education. Sam spent the day sunbathing and drawing and pottering, whatever that is! I told her all about my little adventure and she is keen to come to see Mistra Bay with me next time I go.
That evening we tried a new restaurant. First we went for a drink in Bugibba square; they actually brought us two drinks each but because it was their mistake they refused to charge for the second drink. I have asked them to make that mistake every night. Then we went to Ole Ole, a Spanish restaurant with an interesting sounding menu. I had a chicken and vegetable paella and Sam had a seafood paella. We liked the room and we liked it that the staff spoke Spanish but virtually no English but the paellas were really quite ordinary. I know we’re spoilt after La Perla de Javea where the paellas were fantastic but, nonetheless, the promise didn’t deliver. And another thing. Whether you go to a fantastic posh restaurant like Lovage or an ordinary one like Ole Ole, the drinks and wines cost the same. And the same or similar food (such as rib a eye steak) is only a euro or two different. So why not go to the better restaurant every time? We want to have variety and try new places, but not at any cost. Oh, and after Ole Ole, the Immodium came in handy!
Sunday Sam and I went for a walk along Qawra seafront away from the tourist areas. There are loads of garages there that have been converted into small weekend bolt holes. Actually some look permanently lived in with air conditioners and TV aerials and pot plants. They overlook Salini Bay and the broad sweep of commercial salt pans. We sat on a concrete bench under the shade of some fir trees and watched the boats at play. We wandered into Salini Gardens and through to Kennedy Grove. It’s very relaxing there with people lounging around reading novels and newspapers, kids playing and families picnicking. We stopped at a waterfront restaurant for brunch. It was full of locals, which is always a good sign. I had bruschetta, which was fantastic. Sam had calamari. It looked like road kill but she enjoyed it. Chilli con carne for dinner and then a leisurely stroll before bedtime.
Saturday 1st to Sunday 9th November 2014
Saturday I made the usual start to the day – coffee, walk, water, fruit, shower and more coffee. Worked then had an open ham sandwich for lunch. Okay, a piece of buttered bread with a slice of ham on top, but I claim the right to a certain poetic licence. Went for a stroll in the afternoon and bought Sam an anniversary card. We are still swapping cards every month but the good news is that I have found a discount store that sells them for 50 cents, so my anniversary card budget for the whole year is only EUROs 6. I played my guitar for a while today, the first time for ages, and my arm held up pretty well, so the physio has definitely helped. I have sent an email to Miss Malta to see if I can arrange some lessons with her. Seeing it was our anniversary we splashed out and went to Lovage which was excellent again. Sam had pumpkin and pancetta risotto followed by venison fillet on a pea mash and I had goats’ cheese salad followed by roasted pork belly, with roasted veggies and potatoes. We shared a mixed plate for dessert – apple tart, chocolate mousse, cheesecake and pistachio ice cream. And a silky smooth bottle of Sicilian wine, decanted of course. Oh, and I should mention the complimentary items - a delicious pumpkin soup as an amuse bouche and a liqueur to cap it all. These people sure know how to provide outstanding service.
Sunday I was up with the larks (actually, there aren’t any larks here, they have all been shot). I put on my walking gear and headed outside only to find it was raining! That’s another first. But I got my walk in later that afternoon on the promenade. It was a bit of an obstacle course though. The local tradition is to go out for a very, very long Sunday lunch so at 5pm the prom was packed with departing lunchers. Another thing I like here is that there are so many seriously overweight people that I feel relatively slim! The only place I know that beats it is the USA where I feel positively anorexic. Sam is getting the apartment looking and feeling really cosy and homely. She’s adding lots of subtle touches and although I don’t notice a lot of them unless she points them out (well, that’s men for you), they make a huge difference. She also cooked a delicious roast chicken dinner for us tonight. I think she has been swallowing the perfect-wife pills again. Shame we didn’t discover them 10 years ago. We went for a stroll after dinner and, I have to admit it, there was a slight chill in the air. Maybe the nights are numbered for shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops.
We are six weeks into our Malta adventure now. It’s not perfect, of course, nowhere is. Apartment living can be noisy, the driving is horrible, it can be devastatingly humid in summer and it takes a long time to get anywhere. But, wow, we love this place. The warm, sunny, dry climate, the friendly, decent, peace-loving people, the myriad languages, the foods, the restaurants (mostly), the foreign-without-being-alien ambience, the spoken English (mostly), the complete disregard and contempt for health and safety, the outdoor lifestyle, the small shops instead of hypermarkets culture, the buses, the colours (it’s blue every day), the turquoise sea, the local wines and Cisk (that’s the local beer), the broken pavements, the park-where-you-want-‘cause-who-gives-a-damn attitude, the easy pace of life and absolutely brilliant people-watching, sights and sounds like you wouldn’t believe. Sam’s favourite is Mr Fancy Pants, as she calls him, a pretty grim looking guy who is so in love with himself he even goes into the supermarket half naked (the top half, you’ll be pleased to hear). I miss family and friends, of course, but find myself looking forward to each new day in a way such as I haven’t done for years. I could go on and on, but I’m sure you get the picture. If our value in life is measured by what we contribute, then our worth here in Malta is quite modest. But if the richness of our lives is determined by our love of life, then in Malta we are surely the equals of Croesus himself.
Monday blew in a few showers first thing but normal sunshine soon resumed. I have had an email from Miss Malta and it looks likely that I will be able to start guitar lessons with her soon. Can’t wait, although the journey there and back could be a bit of a pain. She is based in Saint Venera and she tells me that the bus rides will take an hour and a half each way. Once I have figured out the directions, I will probably hire a car on guitar lessons days and combine it with a big supermarket trip. That was Sam’s idea. Actually, there is a nearby supermarket we are soon to try that delivers to your home if you spend over EUROs 100, so that may a better way to go. The flat was full of lovely smells today. I made a chicken stock in the morning and cooked bacon and left over roast potatoes for lunch. The bacon stirred a distant memory. It had small pieces of bone in it and still had its rind on. Haven’t seen that for decades. Sam’s enjoying persimmons, a sort of apple-gone-wrong. I’m not keen. Veggie and chicken soup for dinner whilst watching The Bourne Supremacy. We don’t watch TV here except for the odd movie and it makes a change for it not to be James Bond!
Tuesday we went to a copy shop to get passport photos, copies of our passports and to get prints of our ID card application forms. Then we bought a printer/scanner/copier anyway! Had more physio on my arm. It was pretty sore this time but I think it is doing the trick. Getting home was a challenge as the buses were full; couldn’t get on the first two but it was third time lucky. We went to Churchill’s for dinner. As you’d guess, it’s themed on Winston Churchill with lots of photos and memorabilia. We had the fixed menu and it was very nice. Bruschetta (invariably good here because the tomatoes are so tasty), chicken liver pate (like a parfait, mousse like) with hot toast and fresh salad, delicious grilled grouper with vegetables and roasted potatoes, all rounded off with ice cream. And the price? EUROs 13.50 each! An absolute bargain.
Wednesday we went to a new (to us) supermarket called Scotts. It is a few stops away on the bus but if you spend over EUROs 40 they will deliver to your apartment. It looks like a good quality supermarket with a wide choice, so we spent well over EUROs 40! It was a bit disconcerting to pay and just leave our trolley full of shopping at the till but it turned up safely at our flat within a couple of hours. That’s pretty impressive service. We had bacon sandwiches for lunch. That evening we went just after sunset to a beach-side bar that plays reggae music and had a couple of Cisks watching the street lights and moonlight flickering on the sea. Magic! I can report that Sam and I are no longer Goodfella’s frozen thin and crispy pepperoni pizza virgins. We have to admit they were very good, despite our initial scepticism, and we will definitely be buying them again. Pizzas in the restaurants here are generally disappointing with a thick layer of chewy cheese covering them like a mouse mat.
Thursday was wet and grey for a change but still warm. We worked hard. Sam worked mostly on the balcony which she has declared to be her new office. I’m on the brink of publishing my new photography website, so it was a very productive day. I slow cooked a shin beef and oxtail casserole so the apartment smelled wonderful all day which was great because except for a quick dash to buy milk, the rain kept us in all day. That’s the first day we haven’t been able to get out since we arrived in Malta. Qawra is definitely quieter now with fewer tourists about. The largest hotel has closed for refurbishment and the pace of life seems even more gentle, if that’s possible. Qawra and Bugibba are full of bars and restaurants, most of which spill out onto the pavements with higgledy-piggledy chairs, tables and umbrellas which make navigating your way through quite tricky. The bars and restaurants are not just there for tourists but attract a lot of expats and some locals from early morning to late at night. They pretty much serve their full menu all day and some people seem to exist in completely different time zones to us, drinking beer and eating pizza at 10 in the morning and drinking coffee and eating full English breakfasts at night. There are a lot of hairdressers here too and goodness only knows how so many can stay in business. There are also a lot of very iffy looking Chinese massage parlours, which seems a bit incongruous. If the service they offer is what we suspect it is, we don’t think the somewhat elderly expat community can be their target market!
Friday brought the worst day’s weather we have had so far. Grey skies, wind, thunder, lightning and driving rain, but it was still warm so we had the patio doors open to keep the flat cool. We managed to dash between showers to the BRA coffee morning and met a few more people. Cheese and ham sandwiches on the cusp of curling at the edges, cakes and coffee, all free, and Sam won the raffle – a large panettone. That’s Christmas breakfast sorted! There was a talk and PowerPoint presentation by a retired vet about his work in the Oman which was more interesting than it sounds. The exciting news is that BRA committee has splashed out and bought a new bingo machine. Can’t wait. There was some bad news, though. The Overflow, one of our favourite restaurants has closed down due to a dispute between the landlord and the tenant. We will miss it. Anyway, a lot of hard work has come to fruition and today I published my new photography website. A few teething problems, as always, but I will sort them out soon enough. Left over beef casserole with sweetcorn and roast potatoes for dinner. Potatoes are one of the few foods that are more expensive here than the UK but they have much more flavour, presumably from being grown in warmer conditions.
Saturday we found out just how bad yesterday’s storm was. Malta was in the centre of a cyclone. The airport was shut, ferries cancelled, roads blocked by falling trees, people rescued from cars caught in flash floods and properties suffered power cuts. We had a big puddle on our lounge floor where the driving rain had got in under the lounge window. Today was mostly fine again and we went to St Paul’s Bay to look around the shops. Had coffee and sickly sweet baklava for elevenses. Sam bought a new duvet to put on the bed. She is having trouble with her back and is experimenting with ways to make the bed softer. We bought a jar of vegan madras curry paste; we are planning ahead for Sally’s visit. I think we will be eating a lot of pasta, rice, vegetables, pulses and salads while she is here, which is no great hardship. Sam made us a late lunch of cheese on toast. It was horrible! She grated rubbery cheddar onto toast, sprinkled it with dried herbs and cooked it in the microwave. I’m not making this up. It was like I’d left my flip flop out in the sun, then tried to eat it. In the evening we went to Sun City which is a bar we quite like that has a traditional feel and, importantly, no TV. Most bars here, and even some restaurants, feel compelled to have TVs. Even with the sound off they are distracting. Some have several TVs, all with the sound on and all tuned to different channels. We had dinner at Tagine and it was excellent again. We had poppadams, lamb Rogan Josh, chicken tikka masala and a plain naan and a fruit and nut naan. That was a bit strange, almost like an Asian pizza.
Sunday saw summer return in earnest. My power walk in the morning was HOT HOT HOT and I LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT! The walk I do takes about an hour and is approximately 5 kilometres long. I turn left out of our apartment block and after about 150 metres I come to the pink and beige bricked promenade near the tip of the Qawra peninsular. The prom runs along the coastline around Quara, through Bugibba and into St Paul’s Bay. On the walk in towards Bugibba the roadside on the left is lined with palm trees and rhododendrons. To the right are green railings, then more rhododendrons and scrubby conifers leading to the rocky shoreline. The St Paul’s Bay area encompasses Qawra, Bugibba and St Paul’s Bay itself all of which sit alongside a large natural inlet. The shoreline runs for several kilometres and because the promenade curves inwards following the shoreline, sea views are always ahead of me as well as to the right. It is the views across the sea that makes this walk so magical. After a while I enter Bugibba with the large Dolman Hotel and Casino on my left and a small manmade beach on my right. The recent storm has pretty much ruined the beach. A lot of the sand has disappeared and that which is left is piled high against the prom retaining wall, exposing the rocks below. I guess this is a regular winter occurrence and no doubt it will be rebuilt soon enough. I then come alongside Bugibba’s main square which is ringed by restaurants and bars, mostly touristy but the locals do go there too sometimes. The prom undulates gently, and now to my right are several seaside restaurants, ice cream stalls, a bocci club (like boules), a basketball court, dodgems and, of course, the ubiquitous McDonalds To the left are apartment blocks, the ground floors of which are taken over by shops, restaurants and bars. There is an eclectic mix of shops selling all sorts from very expensive designer sunglasses and jewellery to tourist tat. A bit further on Bugibba turns into St Paul’s Bay. There is a concrete pier there where the tour boats depart from, taking tourists to Comino, the Blue Lagoon and Gozo. Sam and I sat down on the pier there once, with our legs dangling over the water, to watch the power boat racing. Only trouble was, at the end we realised we couldn’t get back up! We managed in the end with the help of an older lady! There is also the usual booze cruise that leaves from there late afternoon and returns late evening. I don’t know what puts us off more; the row of temporary, ugly port-a-loos on the stern, the blaring hip-hop or the shirtless, white-skinned, beer-bellied, tattooed, belching and swearing British tourists. Their mothers-in-law must be so proud. Then suddenly it’s quiet as I leave Bugibba behind and enter St Paul’s Bay. No shops and very few restaurants and bars. Just apartments to the left and, to the right, little boats at anchor, bobbing in the clear, turquoise water. Shortly afterwards, this section of the prom ends and I do an about face and retrace my steps. When I get level with our apartment, though, I carry on along the prom past a vast outdoor video screen where you can watch major sporting events, then on past the National Aquarium and the Café del Mar. I come to Ta Fra Ben, the waterside reggae bar I have mentioned before. Beyond that the prom is quiet again for a few hundred metres, just the sea on my left and private villas to the right. Finally I turn right just before the Qawra Palace Hotel and a couple of hundred metres more brings me home.
After a bowl of Frosties and a plum for brunch, I went for a 2 hour hike. The area just beyond Qawra in the other direction is called Salina (salt), so called because of the sea salt that has been produced there on and off for centuries. Salina Park is there, a lovely area planted with trees and shrubs, interlaced with paths and half-hidden picnic tables. The park leads through to Kennedy Grove which has a memorial to JFK. Walked the long way home through a commercial district which was pretty much closed down as it’s Sunday. Stopped for a large cappuccino and a very nice toasted cheese, ham and vegetable wrap served with perfectly ripe cherry tomatoes.
Sam had a migraine so we had a quietish afternoon reading, photo editing and playing guitar. We reheated chilli con carne for dinner.