Seems like it’s the three “B’s” since I last checked in! The weekend was a full one again, after tuning into the first day of the World Athletics Champs in Budapest and battling with the recycling (freezing) internet channels on Saturday, I bused into Valletta to meet my cousins for Breakfast for lunch!
Breakfast was delicious at a cafe owned by their friend who was very attentive, providing Complimentary coffees. A couple of diversions, the pigeons christened Rebecca’s freshly blow-waved hair, and an apartment above us sprayed their excess air conditioning water! One way to cool off! The other cousins, Leonard included, met us at 4pm and off we went to the Barbie movie…
Five Barbies and One Ken (who was elbow prodded by his wife for nodding off during the movie)
A cool drink at a bar and I caught the bus home to watch some more athletics! And the cousins had parties to go to!
Sunday, home day, a little housework and more (frozen) internet TV with soccer finals and Athletics events – ready for the new week.
Monday, after work, I met another cousin at my local cafe, and once again had breakfast for an early lunch (still serving at 11.30am). Not as nice as my last one, but you get what you pay for! I then settled in to pack up a box to post home (to lighten my load) to the tune of thunder storms and brown (dust from the air) Rain! First rain since I have been here, and when I walked on the terrace in the afternoon (I didn’t realise it had been raining) I immediately thought the watering system was malfunctioning again, as there were steams of water running across the deck! Thank goodness it was just Mother Nature!
The next mid morning found me in a queue in the Bormla post office to post my parcel – high technology in having to submit the declaration online and work out the complicated product code process, however it was CASH only no card payment – so booking it in then off to the money machine and back, followed by a stroll up the Birgu street market, already packing up at 10.30am due to the heat!
Drive home in shopping traffic to finish my work, and looking and feeling like a drowned rat! It was a warm day after the thunderstorms!
The late afternoon I was taxi for my cousin, as her car had broken down , to her nail appointment in Mosta!
Filling in time I wandered down to the Mosta Church, embroiled in dust and roadworks as they close off the plaza in front….eyes watering (seems to be a constant thing with either dust or air conditioning) The one way streets are becoming more and more common in the towns, which actually makes sense as most can only accomodate one car – but terribly confusing for temporary Maltese drivers (me).
The evening plan was the family gathering at a pizza restaurant near Attard for dinner.
And outside is a children’s paradise…Anna and I took a stroll…
The street outside these walls harbours the villas of the Maltese millionaires….
A spare 20 million Euros (40 million NZD) will buy you one of these….
Phone slipped between 12 foot iron gates for a glimpse of how the other half (or 1%) lives in Malta! And this is just the entrance the front gardens lush …. (in an otherwise world of dust)
And the back gardens (I’m told) twice the size probably housing swimming pools, boats and a range of expensive cars!
Back to reality, drive home in the dark (with a very full pizza tummy) and a closed tunnel detour (didn’t panic) to a frozen TV and couldn’t watch our NZ athlete race in the 3000m steeplechase final!
Today, I woke to a neon pink sunrise (in the heat haze) and another work morning followed by a visit to the bank (tedious event) to reset passwords on my card, as the internet app on my phone didn’t recognise my face this morning! Another week half gone….
All who wander are not Lost girls 