Malta

As I alluded earlier, we were in Malta last weekend! It was a surprise weekend for Justine who was joining the 40 and Fabulous club, which Richard and I had booked a few weeks ago. Due to our complicated work life, we were down at Heathrow on Wednesday night, so we met up with Richard & Justine at the airport after they drove down from Malvern on Thursday morning. Check in was exceedingly smooth and professional. Security took a little more time! Not that there was a queue...well not in front of us at any rate! Stephen and I both triggered the detector so had to have a pat down, and there was something in his bag that they didn't like, so it had to be emptied, checked over and then re-scanned. What a palaver!

Richard & Justine were in the over-wing exit row, just behind us on the plane. We were all having a good giggle when one of the stewards came over to tell Richard that the door made a noise during take off, until we got to about 22,000 ft when it stopped. He said it would be very useful if Richard could make a note of the exact time it began and stopped. Cue further hilarity... "bring me a spanner and I'll see if you can fix it if you like". Both rows were in stitches! This talk of a dodgy door seal brought back something that Mr Blackford had said the day before... During his flying days he had been based in Malta and he and his cronies would sit on their chairs at the side of the runway, when they were waiting about, and score the airplane landings. Apparently Air Malta scored pretty badly! I think the guy next to us had heard this story as well as he said a little prayer as we were coming into land...and thanks to the whistling door seal, he wasn't alone!!

It was a slightly uncomfortable car journey to the hotel. We had a Corsa and with 4 adults and quite a few cases and bags there wasn't a lot of space. I had 2 camera bags and 3 other bags stuffed in the back around me. I had to be unpacked before I could get out again!

There were plenty of restaurants and bars around the hotel, so we walked about a bit to get our bearings, had a drink along the way, and decided on a busy Chinese restaurant for dinner. We had just got our hot & sour soup when the guy on the table behind us really kicked off. He was really drunk. Drinking out the bottle of wine, rather than using a glass. Until that point he was a bit loud, but then he got obnoxious. He began swearing, so the Scottish lady at a table near us went over and asked him to tone down the language. Oh dear. He did not appreciate that! I had my back to him, but I gather he was a squaddie as we had a tirade about fighting for our freedom etc etc. The owner tried unsuccessfully to throw him out, but he wasn't moving. He then threatened to call the police, which got warm support from the other diners. The diner was still mouthing off at full volume and demanding the return of his wine which had been removed. We decided at this point that it was time to go. Stephen manfully took charge and explained to the manager that we couldn't stay if he was prepared to have people like that in his restaurant. So, after a mouthful of soup, dinner became a safari... time to find another restaurant for mains! The second place was nice, but where the first restaurant had too much atmosphere, the second had very little. We were the only people in there at first!

We spent Friday walking around Valletta which was gorgeous - despite the rain! Stephen and I had, of course, forgotten to pack umbrellas so we ended up buying a couple. This is why we have about 3,000 umbrellas in the house! Some people collect souvenirs...we collect umbrellas! I can tell you exactly where it was we bought each one...

St Johns Co-Cathedral was absolutely stunning inside. It is very austere and fort-like from the outside, but inside is Baroque and incredibly ornate. There is not a single surface that has not been carved, gilded or painted. It was just amazing to behold. There was a stunning Caravaggio in the Oratory, of the execution of John the Baptist.

On Saturday we headed off to Mdina and Rabat. We were lucky to get to Mdina early (and out of season) as we pretty much had the place to ourselves. After a coffee and a sandwich we went off to explore. Its another stunning location and every corner provided tantalising glimpses of little winding streets and squares. Stephen and I walked around the Carmelite priory and St Paul's Cathedral - where St Paul is supposed to have converted Publius (the Roman Governor) to Christianity. Both were very beautiful. After a slightly chilly lunch in Rabat (it probably wasn't really warm enough to sit outside, but inside was full!) we headed off on an adventure! Richard was doing an excellent job of navigating, and en-route to the coast and Dingli cliffs the roads just petered out and we were bouncing along at 10mph on roads which were more pot-hole than tarmac!! We did get to see some of the landmarks though - including the ancient cart ruts through the rock known informally as "Clapham Junction". We made our way to Golden Bay to watch the sunset...from the warmth of the beach cafe! It was really blowy! There were people kite-surfing and some poor frozen woman was filming a music video. If you see a Maltese pop star with long dark hair and a white dress walking along a beach in a howling gale - we were there!!!!

On Sunday we headed off to Marsaxlokk, a fishing village on the south coast. The boats in the harbour were beautiful. Brightly painted in blue and yellow and bobbing on the bluest of blue water. It was in search of the perfect photo of these that Stephen sustained his injury.... I was blissfully unaware as I had walked on ahead through the market. After waiting a good 5 minutes for him to catch up I headed back the way I had come to find him. He was a sorry sight! He had gone down a slipway in order to get a photo and it was rather slippy... As he was carrying his camera he wasn't able to save himself so ended up on his butt. His jumper, jeans and camera bag were covered in algae and he scraped his elbow. I could have cried. My baby got a booboo....and his new cashmere jumper was covered in green stuff! What the hell takes out algae? Its not something that's covered in my stain removal bible! (I can report that it came out fine with a handwash in delicates soap powder.)

We headed off to the Blue Grotto for lunch before heading back to the hotel to collect the bags and head back to the airport. I was quite grateful that the boats to the Grotto were not running as the sea was very choppy...and these looked quite little boats that were tied up!

I was so tired by the time we got on the plane that I did my usual and pretty much became unconscious as soon as the wheels lifted off the tarmac, and stayed that way for a good part of the flight. We were quite late back to Malvern. I think it was about 10:40pm we got home...we were pretty quickly to bed as we had to be up for work in the morning.