Malta

We only went because it was at the top of the Green List and Russ desperately needed a break.

I did too, but mine was a different kind of exhaustion. Moments to recall; a big dog swimming with his man among the posh yachts and motorboats of a marina; laughing folk in the pub where Ollie Reed hit the deck for the last time, t-shirts bearing his final order (8 pints of lager, 12 double rums and 14 whiskeys) floaty dresses including the coolest looking djellaba with pompoms; covered balconies, curry bushes, a small street full of bats flapping around at sunset; the church where Mary miracled* a dropped nazi bomb to ricochet off the nearby painting of Jesus, bounce on the floor and roll up to the altar unexploded; older ladies in bright colours chuckling over even brighter cocktails, a Sicilian waiter extolling the wonders of bream...

And my own moment of epiphany; a good hot stone massage beats almost every other physical sensation there is.


Jean 'Parisot' de Valette would be proud of what he created (Valletta, not Hot Stone Massage, though they're both up there as human achievements IMHO). History for its part has given him the ultimate accolade.




Life on the streets, history on the ground, mystery in the earth; this last will need its own post, There was heat, so much heat, people gamely kept masks on where required, no mean feat in 38 degrees. But that's beginning to break down. Most if not all have had their shots and want to breathe in the summer air.

The palaver of getting there was nothing compared to getting back; temperature check at the airport, proof of double vaccination, proof of recent test that had to be witnessed by a nurse via Zoom, passenger locator form, passport, then and only then checking in and getting one's boarding pass. Queues were long and increasingly ill tempered. One elegant looking woman was told off by a security guard ('Your temperature is high and you're not wearing a mask...') Two passengers were turned away at passport control. I suspect their adventure continued, because their names were called out repeatedly when we were on board to no response, a half hour delay, and eventual removal of luggage from the hold.

I think we have to take another test now that we're here, but can't really focus on that yet. For now I'm just enjoying the rain.


*Yes, yes, verbing nouns enweirds them 😉