A: Tim kindly drove us to the Robert Q bus terminal on Wharncliffe and we said our final goodbye to the Canadian contingent of the Bezzina clan and were on our way to Malta. This was an uneventful though quite circuitous trip- London to Toronto by two hour shuttle, Toronto to London England- a seven hour flight, and then a four hour wait. After that it was four hours to Rome followed by another four hour wait, then Rome to Catania, and finally the 25 minutes in the air to Malta, where we arrived but our bags failed to do likewise. (M: The story is this: the bags were checked through from Toronto onto the flight that Air Malta had cancelled months ago, which necessitated our trip via Catania in the first place. How your luggage can run on an old itinerary while you run on a different one still baffles me! Moreover, we had shown the luggage slips to both the Alitalia mob in Rome and the Air Malta mob in Catania and neither checked the numbers! Could this be further revenge of the dreaded system?) The taxi driver who had to wait while Mick negotiated about luggage retrieval was happy to do so and then drove us through the silence of the Valletta night ( it was midnight/ 12.30 am Thursday by then) to our flat at 51 Battery Street. This flat is in an extraordinary location with a beautiful view of the Grand Harbour and the Three Cities (M: Check the blog photo - what we saw on arrival).

Aunt Mary comes from one of these three cities - Cospicua. (By the way, two days ago ie Oct 25th, marks the day 60 years ago that Uncle Joe left Malta to begin a new life in Canada. His wife, Aunt Mary, left some months later with three little girls in tow- Rita, Monica and Theresa. And as most of you know they went on to have another six- Jerry, Alex, Amadea, Jane, Joe and Cecilia.)

The flat is very well equipped but is very old. However, it has been tastefully decorated in the typical Maltese style with the old heavy crockery, very high ceilings, chandeliers and on the windows and the door to the balcony are a clever combination of windows and traditional shutters. Some of the furniture is old but we have a TV, microwave, washing machine and dryer. We would recommend this flat to anyone.

Time became a little blurry for us as we travelled from Tuesday about 2pm Canada time and reached Malta at midnight on Wednesday night having been unable to sleep on the plane. So we slept well that night till the 8am call ie cannon fire from the Upper Barrakka which is a garden very close to us with views of the Grand Harbour. (If you zoom in on the map you should be able to see where we are).

M:

We were a little slow to get under way - but not due to the difficulty of selecting a wardrobe! At 9.30 we rang the airport to be advised that there was no news. We ambled into Valetta to get a phone card to use the phone in the flat, breakfast (my first pastizzi included) and a few supplies. The old town has been spruced up quite a bit. The old gate has been demolished, and a Renzo Piano project is under way. If anyone is looking for a business opportunity we'd suggest a mini-mart of some kind inside the old city. There is not a single shop that sells the full range of things you might want. It did make the walk interesting as we chased a shopping list that included more drugs for the cold that had taken a grip of me. I left London with a strained muscle in my chest. The flight seemed to have cured that by replacing it with the cold. Ah well!

We contacted my cousin Joe, and then heard from Marthese (cousin - not daughter!) who arranged to take us out for dinner. When I called about the luggage after lunch we were told it had been found and would arrive in Malta that night. Delivery assured the next morning. Short of going to get it ourselves it could be no quicker.

(For those wondering what happened to the afternoon - after putting various items of clothing through the washer and dryer, we did like the shops and closed down - catching up on some rest in a somewhat minimal wardrobe!)

We met Marthese at the Upper Barrakka Gardens - practically next door, and she took us on a bit of a scenic drive through Msida, Sliema, St Julians and on to St Paul's Bay and Buggibba, where we had dinner in an outdoor restaurant. Maltese wine (House red), Maltese Pizza for Anne, Maltese Bragioli for me (more info - go here ) and a Caesar salad for Marthese.

It was lovely to catch up on what 15 years of Christmas cards couldn't tell you. What children are doing, parents, cousins etc. Marthese is still living at Swieqi, and still in the same job (about 28 years). Picture in the album of the three amigos (or should it be 2 amigas and an amigo?) at table.

I began to fade during dinner - drugs wearing off - so we called it quits about 9.