Visitors

The only good thing about living away from friends and family is that you get to appreciate their time more when you do see them. Plus it is not a casual "Hi" you exchange from being in each others pockets its the warm "i miss you hugs". OK so that sounds very cheesy. I must stop before it gets really Hallmark Cards on you. We have had many visitors since we moved here and we really do relish the days. As someone who does like to play host, of course I love the opportunity to provide a meal here and there but it can also be tiring (meant in the best possible way as I would not for a minute prefer no visitors!) Luther also enjoys visitors so long as they are female and generous with their food. When my Dad comes down he always indulges Luther with long walks. You take on the role of tour guide showing off your new pretty home. In fact I have been on the tour bus so many times, I reckon I should just get a job on one. Our main requests from the UK are usually Molton Brown handsoap (good quality handsoap here is hard to find), I sometimes request a couple of foodie magazines (they are twice the price here) Yes I have said it once and I will say it again, the UK is just so much better for shopping. So far family and friends have tended to like roaming the streets of Valetta, the boat trip is popular and in the summer a laze around at a beach club by the sea, with a pool at your side and a cocktail in your hand in the true holiday spirit.

The Exiles

Chris and I are regular visitors of this fab restaurant in Sliema, Ok yeah so it is close by but i would probably travel miles and miles for some of their Calamari. It is the best I have had, none of this rubbery nonsense, just fresh squid pieces served with an addictive mayonnaise based sauce on a bed of rocket. Yum indeed. The impressive interior is white and arty, with an amazing sea view. No wonder it is always busy when we go. I recommend to book. Prices may be slightly just above the norm for the Maltese (so i hear anyway) but it is well worth it and the meals are plentiful so we often take some back home with us in a doggy bag. Booking is best.
This photo of The Exiles is courtesy of TripAdvisor

Home

Starting to get used to things here now. Settled in, met some new people. All of our belongings (minus a le creuset dish) have arrived and are adorning the place.

Managing to find things to occupy myself- you think of all the free time but believe me it can get swallowed up pretty easy, especially with chores in such a big apartment, still I am not denying I do not have the easy life here, currently not working.

There is a lovely picturesque promenade walk for me, bustling with tourists and locals sauntering by the sea, the waves ever roaring at this time of year. However a new favourite of mine is the much quieter route behind the apartments through the traditional streets with its thin paths, open doorways with women cleaning their houses fastidously. Here there are much fewer cars but more little grocery shops and fruit vans. Reminiscent of a French or Italian street and the houses fascinate me, what with their architecture: the grand doors twice the size of a UK one, the shuttered windows usually open and emitting casserole type aromas,the religious plaques sat proudly on their stone walls. When i get the chance (when a door is open wide) I slyly peer in, from afar mind, at the inside of these homes and usually what greets me is the sight of a homely but dark kitchen. They like dark interiors here, i suspect it is due to the unrelenting summers they have and I am yet to experience. The idea is is that these homes with their tiled floors and walls give a much cooler environment, all well and good until December to February it seems when people wear two jumpers indoors then peel them off to go outside where it is that bit warmer!
Anyway, I digress, it is so peacefully quiet back there on the back streets, with the occasational resident or lost tourist passing and with the lazy sun casting its rays atop my shoulders I can honestly say I feel both very relaxed and very lucky. The meditarranean way of life is an enjoyable one, much slower to what I am used to (unless you get onto the roads here) but boy is it enjoyable!

Forgive me

Its been a while since I posted. I have been a mixture of busy and ill.
What has happened since i last blogged:

We had visitors both my parents and sister and Dave and Chris' parents. Had a great time with them all. With Chris' parents (for the visitors came at different times) we went shopping, then on the South bus tour and stopped off for a look around and drink in the pretty marina that is Victoriosa. We went to an amazing restaurant called Barracuda, apparently popular amoung the famous, David Beckham has dined there etc etc. It was expensive, John generously paid and it was very tasty food. The best part was the decor in there, its really special. The next day we went on a boat tour, it was interesting as it went to places i had not seen from certain angles and it was a beautifully hot day, so i topped up the tan in the window seat!

When my parents, Beth and Dave arrived we had some bad weather, storms! I woke up from the noise of crashing thunder one night. My Mum and I, who love the sun walked down to Tigne Point to a beach club and sat and caught some rays. We had lunch at a lovely cafe (I.D in Sliema) and had the most amazing Bannoffee pie, my mother can attest to this! Later that day my Dad and I went into a lovely sea bath- that is to say there were large baths cut into rock and so went dived in (him literally, not me!) and had a good hour or so bobbing in the waves and catching up. We went for a lovely meal for my Birthday in a favourite of Chris and I's called "The Exiles" a stylish new restaurant that is good value. We did some sightseeing this time going on the North bus route- which took us to Mdina.

Now Mdina, once was the capital, it is known as the walled city (although i would query it being a city as it felt very small and of village if not hamlet size!)It is referred to as such because it is surrounded by wall. It is part of an old Roman settlement. Ah,it was beautiful. It was like Italy, the streets all cobbled and unspoilt in terms of commerce, there were just a few restaurants, a museum and not many shops at all. Put it this way, you would be struggling to shop for a weeks groceries there and definitely no clothes! It was all the more magical when we were there as it was a Sunday and a wedding was taking place, a beautiful bride passed us in a horse led carraige and brought her to a beautiful ornate church.

We also went to Valetta that day. We were enchanted by its sprawling streets and old buildings. The next day I went to Valetta again with my sister and Dave who liked it also. A charming capital city. On the last day we sunbathed at the Hilton where my parents stayed for the night.


I sorted out a niggling broken tooth recently too, although the antibiotics then made me ill. (i always suffer from the side effects)It was a brilliant dentist practice where I got an appointment more or less on the spot. I got a root canal for the NHS price(if not a bit cheaper) but from a very efficient dentist and without the long waiting list.
I went to the doctors the following week and again it was fairly impressive service. It was a sweet old doctor and I paid 15 euros to see him and only waited 15 minutes (used to wait in London for an hour and that was for a booking, which this was not)

Back to the present; we are still awaiting our stuff, i think i shall withold from naming and shaming for now only to say that we paid an extortionate amount, were quoted 1 month and instead it has been two. Will be good to get our stuff, mainly the books for me of course :)

We went out this weekend with someone who Chris works with, and his wife, they were a lovely Maltese couple. It was a great night. I learnt the locals are in great dismay at the current bus service here, something I was not surprised to learn. We had a fantastic fish supper.

Malteasers

That is the official residency of Chris and I with our ID cards and we can vote here also now! hooray!
Only don't ask to see my card as on the day we registered (last week) we had a photo taken. Today they decided to take another and use that instead, the ONE day I am not wearing make up! typical!
They have a 70% vote turnout here, that rivals the UKs...the UKs voting rate on X factor that is 'cos too many people don't vote there!

To celebrate I think Chris and I shall have Maltese wine and some victoria sponge, the perfect marraige of Malta and the UK :)

It means I get the bus cheaper too, things like subscriptions: TV, mobile phone etc they are all cheaper with the ID card.

Storm again today, the full works, have had 3 in the less than three weeks i have been here. Go in the streets and you are ankle deep in water, on the roads anyway, 30 minutes later it is sunny again.

Chris and I watched "Never mind the buzzcocks" last night, just bits like that you miss, the good old British humour. Not sure I am desperate enough to watch Eastenders just yet!

Went to Gozo yesterday, the beautiful scenery was somewhat spoilt by a German lady who was heckling me everywhere i turned because i dared to sit next to her on a packed bus and she would not have enough room to keep adjusting her shawl if i sat next to her....crazy woman, less said about her the better.

It was a lovely place, seemed a bit more arable than Malta, they have a lot of sheep in Gozo, maybe it is the welsh equivalent! Heard a lot of good things of the Gozo cheese. It was dare i say it quaint (i hate using that word it is so demeaning!) and it was boring. Boring but pretty! Apparently it is fairly customary for middle class people in Malta to rent out a farmhouse in the summer over there with a few other couples and have a chilled out stay.

Here are the pictures (of Gozo, not crazy person)

The Particular happiness of lemon cake

It starts to feel like home when i do some baking and today I decided to treat Chris to one of his favourite cakes, lemon and poppy seed, the jamie oliver recipe. its in the oven now.

still getting used to the lack of manners some people seem to have here, pushing my way to the front of the bus queue as i was infact at the beginning of said queue only everyone decided to ignore this and try and rush on. Hana 1- 0 crowd. Bought myself a new pair of trainers, am excited to begin my running along the promenade, excercise always creates a bit of positivity to the body and mind. I want TV!. I am of the tiny school of thought that thinks TV is actually very good for you and educational!! Most disagree. We will sort it soon enough. Have heard most things are cheaper and quicker when you have an ID card, we are waiting for ours to be processed, should be with us at end of this week I hope.

Not too much more to report. Chris and I had a good weekend.
We decided to pick up the little bits we did not have: a grater for cheese and veg, some small bins for the bathroom and some other decorations such as plants, garden furniture (for our balcony) and the all important coffee maker. We headed to the area where the where a couple of homeware shops. One was awful, it was like a pound shop and was absolutely packed. We picked up a couple of bits there but favoured the other shop which was more upmarket with better choice and not even much more expensive. We picked up some stuff there to make the apartment all the more practical and pretty!
We went to the Notte Bianco festival in Valetta on the Saturday night, which led to a dangerous taxi ride home. Some of the drivers here..... Some shops stayed open late so we had a browse, lots of galleries and museums were free admission. Chris and I went to the Maltese museum of Archaelogy. It was fairly interesting, we got to see the fat ladies of Malta


It was overcrowded, there were thousands in the streets. It was not as slickly managed as an event in the UK (no I am not being sarcastic!) but that is the beauty of Malta. As I say the taxi ride home was terrible, poor Chris did not have a seatbelt. At one stage we were on wrong side of road heading for another car. Needless to say there was a lot of beeping going on. The driver was a bit worse than we have seen in general on the roads here, but not too much!!

On the Sunday we went for a drive to get our bearings. We dropped into a garden centre. Got some ideas but forgot to bring Euros out with us so will be back another time for some citrus trees :) that will mean more lemon cake!

Missing home?

Not really missing UK too much, missing the people i.e family and friends. There are a few things I do miss these are:

The Greenery- England is a lovely lush place, here it is dry and when you see soil you can tell it is not very fertile just by sight. There are palm and olive trees about but not much grass at all, in fact Im not sure I have seen any grass yet!

The food- now I am a bit naughty in saying this because so far at every restaurant I have been to, and I have been to about six or seven here now, they are really tasty. However when you go to the supermarkets, I have found a few now, mainly in Sliema, there is not much choice and it does not always look to be the best quality. Having said that there are a lot of french food products here and of course Italian.
Meat, fish and dairy are cheaper though and you can get some juicy prawns out here for next to nothing.

The people- yes us Brits are a bit less warm than people over here, but we know how to queue. Enough said!

Thats about all I miss, you really do realise though what a plentiful array of commercial goods the UK has (im sure most is imported but still) so clothes, household goods, food, just seems that bit more expensive for less.

Malta does have the pleasant climate which will at some point bronze me, beautiful bays, splendid restaurants and much more relaxed feel to it, which is amazing and welcomed by myself and Chris.
You walk along the promenade and see people sitting for a chat, runners taking route among the beautiful coast, people sitting in a bar at the side, with a cool beer. There is no council tax, yet they pick rubbish up every day. No TV license. Less taxes. Plus you can get a brilliant apartment for about a third of what they would charge in the London area.

I have spent my days trying to be constructive, shopping for the essentials, cleaning products, water etc. Ironing and washing for Chris. Tidying the place. Relaxing, reading ,eating lunch in a little cafe. Trying to get familiar with my surroundings, went on another bus tour. Saw the beautiful Blue Grotto.


Set up a bank account here, sent some postcards...Its been great. The internet is now set up, it was sorted this morning, we have good and fast connection and I feel more in touch with the world. Was previously relying on free wifi in cafes and bars. At the weekend we have some exploration and shopping planned- we need some household items, on the list at some point is a barbecue for the balcony, a coffee machine and probably now a new bed- ours is not very comfy and creaks at every turn, hell almost every blink of the eye it is that creaky!
Went to the supermarket today, a Carrefour in Sliema, picked up dinner for Chris, made him a nice chicken dish, I myself had pasta but Chris having eaten pasta and pizza for almost 5 nights in a row, like myself, decided no more carbs! Went on a touch to the South of the island, which is where I saw the Blue Grotto- it was a treacherous journey on this open topped, rickety old tour bus, I myself not being on the small side was eyeing up the obese tourists who boarded and sat on my side. It was our side which dangerously swayed probably unsurprisingly, leaning, the breaks groaning at our cumulative weight. Not comforting when we drove down winding roads next to cavenous ravines. It was really quite scary, but the view was worth it!