Malta's charm

The Expat Telegraph online introduces a Mentor for Malta section:

Claire Bonello says Malta's charm lies in its laid-back atmosphere. Though the frenetic rat-race ethic is creeping into the local mindset, this is still a sunny haven where you can stroll about, exchanging pleasantries with the friendly neighbourhood fruit vendor before taking a dip in the Med.

Everybody speaks English but Maltese lawyers plead before the courts using an Italianate jargon. The Civil Service is based on the Westminster model and the antique mailboxes which are still in use are a bright red with the initials of an English monarch impressed upon them. All this against a background of golden limestone buildings and prehistoric temples older than Stonehenge. Malta has always been a cultural melting pot. If you want to let the siesta mentality take over, it can also be a peaceful retreat in a welcoming atmosphere where the crime rate is practically nil..

Although Malta is over-developed there are still a few pockets of peaceful countryside such as Bidnija, Rabat, Mgarr and Gozo where you can find lovely old-fashioned farmhouses surrounded by gnarled olive trees and curved carobs. There is currently a movement promoting the revival of the lost art of olive-oil pressing and production in Malta where olive tree growers are given a subsidy for each tree. It's not exactly a "Year in Provence", but it's close..

Besides the official sources of job vacancies, there's the unofficial system where vacancies are advertised by word of mouth. A chat with a friendly Maltese neighbour may very well reveal an opening and head-hunting takes place via the "friend of a friend" network. This almost invariably works to your advantage..

The Marsa Club is the equivalent of a country club and it hosts the only golf course on the island. Another golf course was proposed in Rabat but this lead to the mother of all battles between pro-golfers and environmentalists, and the planning application was turned down. Actually fierce debates and controversies are our favourite national pastime. More often than not, we're arguing about politics, but football fever can be just as debilitating. At present, controversy rages on as to how the site of the Royal Opera House which was gutted in the Second World War should be redeveloped. There's drama onstage too...