Bolech's farewell

Peter Bolech from Austria 'bids a light-hearted farewell' to Malta after five years at the helm of Malta International Airport:

..He noted that, without being aware of it, we carry our culture with us wherever we go. "The Maltese and my culture clashed softly in July 2002," he remarked, adding that he never had serious problems of assimilation. Whenever asked whether he knew how things worked in Malta, he would immediately say he did. But he had a confession to make at his farewell address: "This wasn't true, because some contexts I have never understood until this day.

"On the credit side of my balance sheet, where I would book the things I am proud of, I would put on the first posting line the fact that I have somehow managed until today to drive the streets of Malta without an accident. That's one small step for mankind but one giant leap for one man, especially if the man is a foreigner!"...He has his own theory about this: Maltese motorists are simply driven by logic and nothing else. "They think in mathematical terms and, therefore, they know that the shortest connection between two points is a straight line... "

He spoke of his love for the Maltese countryside and noted that he took part in two marathons in Malta. Mr Bolech let it be known that throughout his five-year stay on the island he was fined on the Manwel Dimech bridge for speeding "so regularly that I sometimes considered to set up a standing order with my bank to simplify administration. This omission is not what I am proud of, but rather the assurance that, with the subsidies I granted so generously, I made a major contribution to enhance Malta's infrastructure.

"I was made to believe that, after completion of the project, a commemorative plaque will be affixed to the tunnel, saying: (something like) 'This project was co-financed by the European Union and, especially generally, by Mr Peter Bolech'."

Mr Bolech concluded his address by looking to the future: "I will go back and start a new career as an independent adviser and coach, so I will say goodbye to my 33 years as an employed person, giving up living in the ruins of my habits and following an advice by Bertrand Russell who said: 'You should never do the same stupidity twice in your life because there is such a rich choice'.

"Being curious about the uncertainty of life and what may come next will always remind me of Malta because life is like Malta: At the crossroads, there are no signposts!"