Toni Sant's autobiography

In his latest post, Toni Sant gives us a sample of a fascinating autobiographical project he is currently working on. In this excerpt, he recalls a meeting fifteen years ago with Immanuel ( getting married this weekend - heartfelt best wishes ) on the rooftop of my late grandfather's hotel in Sliema. As Toni indicates, my grandfather Krispin Mangion was quite a a character. In-nannu Krispin attributed his visions, dreams and grand projects to his many years as a close personal associate of Dun Gorg Preca. In the fifties he was a parliamentary candidate for the Democratic Action Party (DAP), a conservative and business oriented party led by Dr Joseph Hyzler that elected four members of parliament in the 1950 general election. The Savoy Hotel was refurbished some years ago and is now run as a guesthouse by his two daughters. One of them is my mother Josephine who is a regular reader of Toni's blog. From Toni Sant's blog:

About fifteen years ago, as the 1980s started to turn into the 1990s, my brother and I stood on the roof of the Savoy Hotel in Sliema with two women. I don't recall how and why we came to be there that Sunday morning. All I know is that we were there thanks to Robert Micallef, whose grandfather Krispin owned the hotel at that time. Krispin was one of the most interesting Maltese eccentrics I've ever met. During this visit to the Savoy Hotel he showed us his plan for an enormous religious monument he wanted to erect above the city of Valletta. An impossible project from the mind of an extraordinary visionary man. Krispin's monument could certainly have made the shortlist for the McMartha Award, Franklin Furnace's answer to the "genius grants" given out by the Chicago-based MacArthur Foundation.

As we stood perched on the edge of the hotel roof looking at the fabulous view of Marsamxett Harbour, Manuel and I struck up a conversation about the women who were with us that morning...

More recollections by Toni Sant on Immanuel's blog:

Ma' Patrick kont bqajt indoqq anke wara li spiċċajna mit-Time. Kellna grupp jismu Clockwork Wizards, imma qatt ma ħrigna fil-pubbliku u għandi recording ta' rehearsal, pero naħseb Patrick kien ġie tard dak in-nhar. Naħseb li Alex Fenech, li kien idoqq id-drums u l-bass (!) mal-Wizards, għandu recording ta' rehearsal ohra li tinkludi lil Patrick. Wara dak iż-żmien kont narah darba kull tant għax ommu kienet taħdem bħala radio announcer Xandir Malta meta kont naħdem hemm jien...

Toni Sant's website