Six years in Malta

Stuart Cobbe from Florida, USA lives in Sliema and blogs at studawg's space:

Well another summer past, another year in malta. I can't believe I've been here for 6 years already. I went to the roof of baystreet friday night, and it just brought back all those memories that have a double sense to them, of being an eternity ago, and yet only feel like being just yesterday. I remember being in middle school playing football with such idiots, and of friends lost and gone.

School starting, and it'll be the usual Verdala purge of the old and bringing of the new. I want to meet the new students, but I don't want to get attached to anyone; I leave in under two years for sure, and the last thing I want to do when I move to the states is bring baggage with me...I'm really scared, for once in my life. Scared of moving to the states, to a place where I know I'm happier, and scared I won't live up to both my own and other peoples expectations of me...

Transport twinning

eTwinning Training - Malta is a joint Blog by students from schools in Malta and Austria dealing with transport issues:

This is an eTwinning project that deals with this important aspect of daily life in Malta and in Austria. Since the dawn of time, getting people and commodities from one place to another has been an aspect of daily life that man has been concerned with. Students from our schools will work on the project collaboratively and investigate the several related issues in both countries. They met to decide together upon the most interesting areas, about the methods of collaboration and to compare their findings. eTwinning has given us the opportunity to work and learn together in a much more interesting manner.

Santa Marija vs Ta' Pinu

Il-Lanzita Blog by 'Michael Saints' throws light on local Gozitan rivalries and claims to expose the exploits of Gozo's aristocracy "li bhal fil-Medju Evu ghadhom jistghu jghaddu minn fuq kulhadd" From Santa Marija vs Ta'Pinu:

L-informaturi taghna qalu li l-Isqof, biex jiffranka l-inkwiet (u fl-eta' tieghu ma ntuhx tort) weghedhom li din is-sena ma ssirx, u t-tmexxija tal-Parrocca tal-Katidral, li hija msejsa fuq demokrazija u altruwizmu kbir, organizzat velja hi. Jidher li l-amministraturi Ta’ Pinu (bir-ragun) haduha gewwa hafna din il-haga kif jixhed dan ir-ritratt, li ara min jahseb li huwa mehud min-newsletter ‘Tal-Istilla’!! Min kiteb il-paragrafu ma tantx iddejjaq jiffirmah, u dan juri kemm certi nies issa ddejqu sal-ponta ta' mnehirhom b'dan l-atteggjament arroganti ponn aristokratici fost il-kleru li minghalihom qed imexxu bit-trirenju.

Toqghod tghid veru li tal-Istilla mqabbdin ma’ ta’ Ljun? Jew dawn tal-ahhar imqabbdin ma' kulhadd u ma jifilux imsarinhom f’zaqqhom ahseb u ara f'zaqq haddiehor?! Ir-Romblu jhoss li l-awtoritajiet ukoll ghandhom bzonn barxa tajba forsi iqumu min-naghsa helwa li jinsabu fiha. Li tiffranka l-inkwiet huwa haga qaddisa, izda lanqas huwa sew li l-poplu qed jiehu l-messagg li f’Ghawdex dejjem tghaddi ta’ min l-aktar li jghajjat, jirrikatta, jsabbat saqajh u jdejh mal-iskrivanija tal-Isqof, jahbat mal-koxox tal-bibien tal-Kurja, u jaghmel ir-rallies, ghandu jew m’ghandux ragun

A Maltese Falcon for the King of Spain

A Maltese falcon will once again be offered to the King of Spain at a Vittoriosa ceremony this Sunday. From TMIS:

The elaborate and colourful ceremony will commemorate the 475th anniversary of the cession of the island of Malta to the Knights of St John by Emperor Charles V on 24 March 1530. The Maltese falcon, on which the famous Humphrey Bogart film was based, is the bird which the Knights and the people of Malta sent every year to the Holy Roman Emperor and his descendants, the Kings of Spain, as a sign of their continuing fealty. The Maltese were subjects of Spain before the Knights came and continued being so even under the Knights..

A solemn High Mass of Thanksgiving (in Latin) will be sung at 9.45am and the falcon blessed, after which guests and visitors will leave the church for the nearby Main Square where a Maltese actor, representing Grand Master L’Isle Adam will hand over the falcon to the Spanish Chief Falconer. The ceremony will then proceed from the Main Square to the Vittoriosa waterfront where some of the guests and visitors will leave in dghajsas.

The next day, on Monday 5 September, the guests will visit the National Library in Valletta where they will be shown the authenticated copy of the original Charles V document cedeing Malta to the Order of St John, including the annual donation of a Maltese falcon as proof of the Maltese people’s continuing fealty to the Spanish Crown...

Probing Human Traffickers

Outlook India reports on the Malta Boat Tragedy Probe Mission that "will visit a number of European countries next month in connection with ongoing cases in courts there involving international human traffickers". From Outlook India:

..The External Affairs Ministry has also asked the Mission to build up public opinion in European nations for retrieval of remains of young men, perished in the boat tragedy, from the ocean. This was stated by Probe Commission Chairman Balwant Singh Khera here today. He said the Mission would seek the help of European governments and Indians settled there in this connection. Khera said the delegation would seek a meeting with Pope Joseph Ratzinger in Vatican and request him to extend all help in retrieving the remains of the deceased.

The Malta Boat Tragedy turned into a movie - with Majistral clarification

Please, a sense of perspective

Malta - Pakistan talks

Pakistan's Daily Times reports that the Pakistani foreign minister is on his way to Malta for meetings with government representatives. From Islamabad:

Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri will depart for Malta on Sunday on an official visit at the invitation of Maltese Foreign Minister Michael Frendo. The two leaders will discuss the forthcoming meeting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government to be held in Malta. Kasuri will discuss ways to strengthen economic ties and improve bilateral relations between the two countries. Kasuri will meet with President Edward Fenech-Adami and parliamentary leaders including the speaker of the House of Representatives. Malta will host the next Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting from 25 to 27 November, which will be preceded by a Foreign Ministers’ meeting on 23 and 24 November 2005.

What is CHOGM?

Podcasting project

Toni Sant has kept his promise about his ground breaking podcasting project. Following his four podcast tests, he has announced the first podcasting series in Maltese which will deal with the 9/11 New York terror attacks. From Toni Sant's blog:

The new series consists of 23 podcasts released daily starting tomorrow. You can hear an introduction to the series right now. A new file will be made available every day over the next three weeks and two days. The series starts with seven reports from the first week after the attacks in September 2001. A two-part interview with Dr Jesmond Schembri, who was Maltese Consul General in New York at that time, opens the post-trauma discussions, followed by a telephone account of life in Ridgewood, a small town in New Jersey, across the river from New York City, by Fr Ivan Sciberras..

Although most of the material in this series has already been available as webcasts through the MaltaMedia.com special features section since 2001, we feel that there's an added value to our listeners in presenting them as a series of podcasts. Besides, we are also starting the series with a newly recorded introduction, and I may even punctuate the series with a few new comments here and there...depending on the sort of feedback we get from our podcast listeners...

Podcasting a Maltese perspective on terror - Robert Micallef's Blog

Podcasting from Wikipedia; MaltaGirl's Podcast; Lost in Thought

Aussie Guide to Maltese people

Charmaine is a Maltese airhostess who lives in Sydney , Australia and blogs on MSN. This is her 'Guide to Maltese people':

*You don't have to have a Maltese backgroung to impress a Maltese family - *You should know that Popeye, Cutthroat Island, Gladiator & Troy were filmed in Malta - Maltesers were not invented in Malta - Maltese terriers were actually first bred in Malta - The Maltese cross is a throwback from the days of the Knights of Malta - the Maltese Falcon never existed in Malta - If you don't eat fish, hate swimming,Bet on Horses, soccer & Elvis and don't like fishing, you will have to find another way to impress a Maltese Dad.... GOODLUCK!!!! - If you are not good with dinner table manners a Maltese mum will be highly unamused- and above all, do not fart or burp any where near her... (unless you are close family) - Maltese do belive in the evil eye - NO point in having a debate on the merits of turning Jehovahs Witness, or Muslim, 99.9% of Maltese are Catholics. (the .1% were killed by there fathers!) - You won't need a translator, most Maltese speak english well, and you will never forget a Maltese accent - If you run your own business, a Maltese father-in-law will be very impressed - If you are invited to a Maltese gathering, get familar with the likes of gassatat, pastizzi, figolli, cannoli and my fav FENECK - If you are Catholic, but you weren't Confirmed & didn't do your Communion- DONT mention it! - Most Maltese take exception if you say "I've heard Malta is like Italy or Greece" frankly it ain't - If you are over 22 & not married a Maltese grandmother will think you must have some sort of physial problem or disease - If you don't understand how to gamble on horses, play bingo, or play poker, you won't get on a Maltese father-in-law good side - If you don't know what kinnie is... FIND OUT! - If you hate to talk, you better be good at listening - Expect to put on kilo at every Maltese gathering you have attended in any one year - Most Maltese Grandmothers think jeans are for poor people, so don't go prancing around in your $200 vintage Levi's! Most of all don't say they were $200! - Know your Maltese celebs.. Edward De Bono (lateral thinking), S2S (music), Joe Camillri (music), Darren Gauci (jockey) Sean Micallef (comedian) Kevin Muscat (soccer), Amber Valetta (model) & Jeff Fenech (boxer)

Archaeological Outdoor Museum

Dennis Siluk is an author and world traveller who is 'a lover of the mysteries around the world' . He visited the island after a suggestion by archeologist Charles Love and describes Malta as 'a paradise of archaeological wonders'. In this article for Useless Knowledge mag, he describes his Malta experience:

..I could go on and on about the many outdoor sites, Hagar Qim, Mnajdra Temples, Tarxien Temples, they are all over the place, but Malta itself is a kind of Citadel, or has one within its main city, like in Athens. I liked Athens, but besides its Acropolis, it can’t compare to the archeological wonders on Malta. If I had a choice to go back to Athens or Malta, it would be Malta in a heartbeat, no offence, it is just the truth. Athens has a known history which is glorious, Malta has a mysterious one, if you were to go back farther than 700 BC, which is a draw for me. I went to Athens, and three of their Islands in l995, because of Mary Renault’s great novels of the Greeks, and never regretted it. But back to Malta, there are so more artifacts there the mind could not digest them all.

More about Dennis Siluk, his books and his places of inspiration.

Rites of Passage blog - Athena in Cambridge

Try the Maltese

Following a visit by a friend from California, Ben and Jessica reflect about their experience in Malta. From Who's to Say:

She helped to confirm a lot of the things that Jessica and I have observed about life in Malta. We had a lot of long discussions and I think I’ve got a lot of thoughts I want to bounce around with y’all. I’d have posted sooner, but I was busy spending days snorkeling in the Blue Lagoon and evenings sitting in waterfront cafes. Ahh!

So… one thing that has become all the more evident over the last several weeks is a certain mindset of the males of Malta. Now I know it’s not a characteristic unique to the Maltese islands, but I do think it’s a tendency more of men than of women. The odd thing seems to be that it’s so annoyingly pervasive in this culture. It’s the underlying need to know everything, or at least to know something about everything...

But I am reminded yet again of one of the many amazing truths that my father has taught me, “Being right is over-rated.” It goes for marriages, friendships, and pretty much every relationship. I think if some of us men (not only those of Maltese descent) would spend more time genuinely listening instead of thinking about what we’re going to add to the conversation, people would feel a little more cared about...

Update from Ben and Jessica

In Malta with Ben and Jess - Wired Temples

Passion clothing

New blogger Mirane Vella goes shopping at Baystreet with fellow teenage bloggers Erika and Mark. From Much ado about nothing:

As the whole story goes, next Monday is my dad's birthday and both of us being avid F1 fans (supporting Ferrari of course) I had long since (since last year's birthday as a matter of fact) decided to buy him a Ferrari perfume. Only last year I had no idea from where I was supposed to buy the perfume, cause I had forgotten about the Grand Prix shop in Baystreet. Thankfully when I told my friends about my idea they immediately mentioned the shop, and so of course they were dragged along in my mini shopping spree. So me, Erika and Mark went along last Friday. Upon arriving at the shop...

'No Dominic no Tramps'

The brains behind one of the most popular Maltese bands ever to grace these islands died yesterday aged 55. Dominic Grech was the founder and lead singer of The Tramps, a Gozitan pop group that produced numerous hits including 'Ix-Xemx', 'Lilek irrid' and 'Għawdex Inti Djamant'. In his tribute, Pierre J Mejlak outlines the history of the band and the nostalgic tours amongst Maltese communities in North America and Australia. Joe Zammit, who played alongside Dominic Grech in the sixties, posted this comment on Mejlak's blog:

Barra li kont niltaqa' mieghu kull filghodu r-Rabat, lil Dumink kont ilni nafu minn zmien tfulietna. Kien dejjem jhewden biex jghaqqad grupp. Konna fl-ghaqda Zghazagh Haddiema Nsara u minn hemm huwa ghaqqad grupp vokali bl-isem The Rosebells. Kantajna l-ewwel darba fit-Teatru Aurora (il-qadim) fis-sena 1966. Wara transforma ruhu fi grupp strumentali GEMINI 5 u iktar tard THE TRAMPS. Kelli l-unur inkun wiehed minn dawk li hdimt, ovvjament, biex naraw l-ewwel grupp Popolari Ghawdxi gewwa l-Kanada, meta fil-MALTESE PROGRAMME FAN CLUB TA' TORONTO konna tellajna lil The Tramps hemmhekk ghal shows lill-emigranti. Huma kienu wkoll ghamlu diska 45 u kienu wkoll telghu Detroit.Il-memorji huma hafna... L-emigranti jilqghuhom b'hafna entuzjazmu....Dumink tat-Tramps kien pedina importanti ghall-muzika popolari li harget minn Ghawdex.

Malta Press Digest - August 18 to August 24

Wednesday24: From the International Herald Tribune, Gary Milhollin in Malta, writes about American concerns on Iran's nuclear programme; Bush - Gorbachev summit memorial needs maintenance; The recollections of a 1950s reporter; Alfred Sant says EU rules are creating new problems and disillusionment with EU membership has become widespread; MLP says Malta should buy Libyan oil at preferential rates; Malta does not yet have a global strategy against corruption, Council of Europe report says; From Central Minnesota's St Cloud Times, Malta Study Centre meets funding targets
Tuesday23: Government to introduce new measures on repatriation of illegal immigrants; Joe Vella Bonnici discusses the official pre-budget document; LeoBrincat on the government's weaknesses in news management; Il-Partit Laburista jsellem lill-ex-Prim Ministru Lord Gerald Strickland; The founder of the Tramps is dead
Monday22: BBC Wildlife magazine September issue focuses on Malta's illegal hunting; Lino Spiteri on the Gaza pull out; Marisa Micallef on Malta's Mars and Venus
Sunday21: 40% of Maltese citizens assess Malta's accession to EU positvely, 60% assess it negatively; Timely Malta conference of influenza specialists; Mediterranean sea-storm claims life of 24 illegal immigrants; Sunday Times special correspondent says that it is 'very doubtful that Europe is interested in stemming this flow of illegal immigrants'; Paul P. Borg on the dream of social history; Juan Ameen on the Maltese, sex and the net; Daphne Caruana Galizia on sky horror stories; The Maltese Bishops have nothing left to give and to say, says Lou Bondi; False competition and cooking the books by Alfred Mifsud; The wimps of Europe by Charles Flores; Sharon Ellul Bonici on the need to revive tourism; A government appointed chairperson questions the 'current mania in the PN or parts of government to centralise everything'; Salvador Dali’s book on Malta to be re-issued soon; BirdLife complaint trapped in bureaucracy; Josette Ciappara on the drama festival
Saturday20: AD criticizes the Government for sidelining rent law reform; Public Transport Association starts dismissing employees; Herman Grech asks whether Maltese are racist and xenophobic, and more by Ranier Fsadni; Ariadne Massa on 50 years of government information; J.G. Vassallo on transport shortcomings; Helena Dalli dwar hasil ta' l-imhuh
Friday19: Government calls on UNHCR for additional help and UNHCR voices concern on Malta remarks on FT; Malta should focus on specific sectors 'to make the best of EU accession', according to Malta Business Bureau; Marie-Claire Bonavia on the 20th world youth day; Zjara qasira ta' Mike Tyson f'Malta; Alfred Grixti dwar l-ghaqda fl-MLP; Daniela Attard Bezzina dwar l-ewwel passi fuq l-art Maltija
Thursday18: Malta President meets Queen Elizabeth at Balmoral Castle; From Cheshire Online, MDHC in running to operate Malta's Grand Docks system; Opposition leader’s visit in Australia continues; Sir Paul Judge to speak at Malta conference

Financing the Malta Study Center

A report on St Cloud Times of Central Minnesota states that The Hill Museum & Manuscript Library at St. John's University has met the target for the financing of its Malta Study Center. from The St Cloud Times:

The Hill Museum & Manuscript Library at St. John's University has met a fund-raising goal that keeps it in the running for a matching grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The NEH will provide $1 for every $4 raised by the HMML for its Malta Study Center as part of a four-year fundraising drive that began in August 2003. The NEH set fundraising benchmarks that the HMML had to meet in order to receive the matching funds.

The Malta Study Center collection at HMML contains more than 16,000 documents, dossiers of documents and a research collection of 800 books from Malta. It is one of a few libraries in the United States that actively collects books and other works about the history of Malta, and researches the role of Malta as a crossroads of the Christian and Muslim worlds. Malta, a former possession of Great Britain, is an island nation in the Mediterranean Sea, south of Sicily. The $2.25 million endowment to HMML will fund a curatorial position, acquisitions, programming and preservation of rare manuscripts and documents related to Malta.

The Malta Study Center in the USA - from Wired Temples

Songwriting malaise

The open air concert at Cafe Duex Baronnes in Valletta organised by PoezijaPlus on the last week of July was a huge success. It featured singers/songwriters Vince Fabri, Mario Debono, Mark Spiteri Lucas, Rita Pace, Walter Micallef and Tony Grimaud. It is particularly pleasing to know that Tony Grimaud's much talked about comeback was not just a one off. His Bob Dylan style song writing was an intrinsic part of the Maltese youth cultural scene until the early eighties, an era vividly portrayed on Mikiel Galea's blog and on a forthcoming project by Toni Sant.

I hardly recognised Grimaud with his thick beard when I bumped into him near Msida circus a few days after that concert. He told me that he was planning to follow it up with other appearances. I missed the July concert but I definitely plan to be at Cafe Duex Baronnes this Wednesday at 8.30pm beneath the Valletta bastions. Grimaud will be making a solo appearance and will play old favourites as well as new songs.

Two interviews published by the Malta Independent discuss the current state of Maltese songwriting. Walter Micallef, who is working on a second CD release, says that Maltese songwriters are “a dying breed”. He laments the fact that many radio stations neglect Maltese music. His promoter Steve Borg, in another interview, says that the lack of official support for Maltese songwriting is 'symptomatic of a national malaise'. He suggests that it is necessary to create a structure which can 'produce or facilitate the issue of albums in the Maltese language'. From Sandra Aquilina's conversation with Steve Borg:

What is the value of calling ourselves patriotic if then we do not have the war songs in Maltese?” asks Mr Borg. “Or, for instance, the songs of the 1960s, during the politico-religious struggle. For instance, the Labour supporters had a song called L-Ghanja tas-Suffara and at the beginning of the 1980s, there was the birth of a movement of songs in protest against government – which have never been released – just like Professor Manwel Mifsud’s L-Ghanja tal-Liberta’. ”

There are other songs, says Mr Borg, which have never been released and are therefore in danger of being forgotten. He mentions songs by Albert Friggieri, Marija ta’ Wied il-Ghajn, which was written in the late 1960s, Hondoq ir-Rummien by George Cassola, Ahjar Niskot by Dr Marco Galea and even Vassalli, by Manwel Mifsud, in honour of Mikiel Anton Vassalli..

Music is by its very nature a fleeting ephemeral art; notes are destined to fade. Much has already been lost, says Mr Borg. “A few years ago I wanted to acquire Zaghzugh by Jo Naudi and Tony Scott, which was issued by the Moviment Zghazagh Partit Nazzjonalista (MZPN) in 1985. This was the Nationalist Party’s (PN) answer to Labour’s massive 1982 hit, Gensna. When I went to the PN headquarters to ask for it, they told me that I was mistaken and said they had never released anything by that name. I was furious. So the very party that had commissioned it – not only did not have a copy but had actually forgotten about it. What I am saying is that the country cannot have amnesia in what forms part of its musical history. There should be a structure which will listen to everyone.”..

The reasons why Malta lacks the necessary mechanisms are various, says Mr. Borg. One of the reasons could be, he says, that people with influence might not feel the cultural void, they do not always feel the pulse of the people. “They may even prefer to speak in English and most of the attention is given to festivals in that language. But where is the live music scene in Maltese in Malta?” he asks. “Not even Bendu Muscat – the Maltese version of Sherlock Holmes – the private detective, will find it!”...

Asian perspectives

London based Elaine spent four days in Malta last week with her friends. She blogged about it here with a colourful post and numerous photos. At the end of the holiday in 'sunny sultry Malta' she went 'back to rain, wretched weather, and work' in London. Some excerpts from Rambling Roads:

Across the bay, there was loud music playing and a crowd had gathered to watch adolescent girls doing the para-para to cheesy 80s music. We found out in our 4 days in Malta, that the whole country is hooked on 80s music! It's like they were stuck in a time warp, and all we heard was Debbie Gibson, Belinda Carlisle and other Mambo favourites...

It was more crowded tonight then the night before, but it was all 小妹妹 and 小弟弟!! 15 year old wannabes... sigh... But what to do, Uncle OHH wanna be happening, so we had to queue up for Axis (supposedly the longest surviving club in Malta), which served diluted drinks and had cannot-make-it dancers on the platform. After half and hour, Hils couldn't take it anymore and we left. At the exit, they didn't even have UV-ink! They "chopped" us with unsightly black ink... urgh...

Anyways... it was a really hot day - the blazing heat so draining, it just made me sleepy. After visiting the Rotunda (Parish Church of St John the Baptist) in Xewkija, the Ggantija Temples and Ta'Kola Windmill in Xaghra and the Citadella in Victoria Rabat, the taxi driver brought us to this place for lunch, and it seemed every taxi driver took their passengers there! Our driver mentioned something about it being owned by his friend's son or something...

..St Paul's Catacombs in Rabat, where the martyr St Agatha hid, while fleeing an amorous Sicilian governor. When she returned to Sicily, she was tortured by having her breasts sheared off and burnt on the stake. A gruesome painting depicting the torture scene hangs in her shrine in Medina...

Wimpish Diplomacy

In his regular column on the Malta Independent on Sunday, Charles Flores exposes one of the Government's weakest spots - its submissive attitude towards Europe. He calls it Wimpish Diplomacy:

Caught as we are, at least the majority of us, between a genuine concern for the plight of the hundreds of illegal immigrants trying to gain a foothold to build a new future in Europe, and the embarrassingly huge economic and logistical problem they have created here, the least we can afford is a government that takes a wimpish attitude with those who should already have provided us with the funds and the expertise to tackle the crisis...

We have overnight become the wimps of Europe. Yes, we are the smallest and the poorest by anyone’s standards, but it is the attitude of our elected representatives that unnerves even those who had genuinely and steadfastly believed that EU access would be the key to solving all our troubles and tribulations. Here we have the first real crisis since 1 May of last year, and instead of growling and biting into the rich texture of European muscle, the Maltese government remains with its head bowed and its tail limp in a state of utter submission.

I emphasise the role of government because the Maltese, as a politically conscious nation, have never been wimps. On the contrary, examples of Maltese one-upmanship in the annals of imperial and European history, even going back to the times preceding the Knights, are manifold and often recorded in official accounts of the period as well as in individual works such as Jan Morris’ Pax Brittanica trilogy and David Niven’s biographies. The Maltese have always been a politically astute race with a natural tendency for hard, sometimes garrulous bargaining...

Maltese Grapevines

The Northern Irish Press is still debating last week's disastrous performance in Malta of their national team. Maltese Grapevines from Sunday Life of the Belfast Telegraph:

It's not often BBC favourite Jackie Fullerton is stood up? But that's exactly what Lawrie Sanchez did after Wednesday's dismal draw in Malta. Under the terms of their contract with the IFA, for which they have paid thousands of pounds in licence payers' money, Sanchez is required to give a one minute 30 second interview shortly after the final whistle - however he stormed into the dressing room with the players and locked the door for 30 minutes. Producer and Jackie's 'fixer' Terry Smyth tried in vain to get Sanchez out before their transmission from the small Mediterranean island came to end. However, Jackie was forced to close the programme with his own personal thoughts on a shocking performance...

Home with the lizards

Caroline gave up her home and job in the UK and moved to Malta less than a year ago. She has blended well with her new surroundings, going to her village festa and learning Maltese. In this post she writes about her uninvited family lodgers at her home in St Paul's bay:

When I moved to Malta I was quite pleased to realise that they don't have the BIG black hairy spiders of which I'm terrified of back home......instead they have lizards.This wasn't a problem to start of with as the only ones I had seen were these cute little ones that ran along the ground. My son and I would look for them on the rocks on our morning trip to the shop. The problem has taken a turn for the worse...we have lodgers!!!! On our terrace, which we relax on in the evening, we have aquired 2 geccos or what ever they are called. These things are certainly not cute and linger in the shadows stuck to the wall. They are transparent with suckers on their feet which enable them to climb and hang around under the balcony above us. They appear from nowhere. I get this feeling of being watched, I turn my head and there they are, eyeing me up! Well a war is on now. I'm not having them take over my terrace....any suggestions?

6 things Caroline loves and hates about Malta

Back home after 73 years

Helen Pulé, who is now 86 years old, grew up in Malta and lived there until her early teens. She moved to Tunisia with her family when she was 14 and never came back. She returned to Malta after an amazing 73 years last week to attend the feast of St Helen’s in her native Birkirkara. She came to Malta with the assistance of the producers of 'Baqghu Maltin', a TV programme that features Maltese communities around the world. Gerald Fenech writes for the Malta Independent:

An 86-year-old woman, born in Malta, returned to her “homeland” this week after 73 years, still speaking the language pretty clearly, although she has spent practically all her life in Tunisia.This is the story of Helen Pulé, who returned to Malta last Thursday to attend the feast of St Helen’s in Birkirkara, which is being celebrated tomorrow. Birkirkara was Helen’s home town in her youth. Helen, who unfortunately lost one of her legs in an accident when she was only four, is cheerful, sprightly and charming, radiating life and the joy of living in every sense of the word...

I married my first husband in the 1930s but he died in the war in 1940. He left me with three children and so I had to fend for myself. Then I remarried and had three more children. Although I had some hardship, I can’t really grumble about life, as I have always found people to help me, considering my disability.”...

Helen’s father no longer wanted to live in Malta after she had her accident when she was four years old, but Helen definitely did not forget her homeland.“On Thursday I even managed to find the old house where we used to live in St Roque Street, where some of my relatives still live, and I hope to meet more of them in the next few days. I have very fond memories of St Helen’s church, as I was baptised there and also received my First Holy Communion and Confirmation too,” Helen explained. She recalls that her mother died in Tunisia, pining for her homeland and she also expressed the wish to be able to die here...

World Challenge

The World Challenge by BBC World & Newsweek is a competition aimed at 'finding individuals or groups from around the world who have shown enterprise and innovation at a grass roots level'. The competition rewards projects that can make a difference to local communities. The final 12 nominations have been announced and they include one project from Malta. The project aims to clean up the Maltese coastline by turning cooking fat into a diesel-substitute. You can vote here for the project. From the World Challenge site

Mediterranean cooking uses a lot of oil. And the millions of package tourists who double the population of the Western Mediterranean each summer expect to find fast-food outlets like those at home. But what happens to all that cooking fat? In the tiny 316 sq. km. island of Malta it clogs up the drains and eventually ends up in the sea. It's a huge problem and the authorities fear that it might put the tourists off visiting Malta. In 2004, Malta's largest producer of cooking fats and oils - the Edible Oil Company - came up with an elegant business solution.

The first diesel engines ran on peanut oil, so for Pippo Psaila - the company's owner - it was a case of back to the future with the launch of his biodiesel project. Instead of cooking oil going down the drains it would power specially converted diesel cars and lorries. Key to the project's success has been the establishment of an efficient collection system from restaurants and homes. Collection points are being established all over the island. The availability of biodiesel is helping the economy by reducing Malta's dependence on imported fossil fuels. And because biodiesel burns more cleanly than diesel, air pollution is also reduced. To encourage more buyers to opt for the cleaner fuel, the government of Malta has made biodiesel tax-free.

Avoiding reality

Deiform is a student hoping to enter university this year. He blogs about his recent trip to Malta. From Avoiding Reality:

I’m talking about the sun, not the police here so sorry if you got the wrong idea. Recently I took an excursion out into the small island of Malta where I lived as a ‘wild man’ for 14 days and nights. When I say wild man, I mean I ran around with a sense of worthlessness and self-pity with thoughts of contemplation and shit. Didn’t really do much except wander around and take long bus rides into the nether-regions of the island and talk to strong accented Scottish people….

Can't fault Malta

You just can't fault Malta , writes Ben Rankin on the Daily Mirror:

Size doesn't matter and Malta, a tiny speck floating in the Mediterranean, home to just 400,000 inhabitants, proves it. The small island's population trebles with the annual influx of tourists - but if it's a big holiday you're after, it's well worth a visit. Thousands of Britons are among those who make the trip every year and it's easy to see why. Just a two-and-a-half hour flight from the UK, Malta is easy to reach. You're skimming the limestone rooftops of its houses before you've finished reading the in-flight magazine. The climate, hot and dry summers and mild winters, makes it an ideal year-round destination. The sun is so reliable that visitors can lie on the beach soaking up the rays or splash in the warm waters of the Med until late October..

Just living

Yatz is back from a trip to Malta and blogs about it here:

Just returned from a 3 days trip to Malta. This job certainly has its perks. It was like a free weekend trip. Too bad Sharky was filming over the weekend, else he could have join me. It could have been better. Perfect weather-sun and breeze with clear blue sea. Malta has its charms. Due to the summer holidays, loads of teens out in the streets partying, starting as early as 7.30pm. Clubs were already full in action. Walked the streets of Valetta, the capital town of Malta. It's really a mixture of Greece, Italy and Arabic. The highlight of the trip was our catamaran ride...

Out of jail

Malta is not a lucky country for Lawrie Sanchez, Northern Ireland's national football coach. When still a player, he played for his country in Malta, was substituted and never selected again for the national team. Sixteen years later, he returns as national coach to Malta and only just avoided an embarassing defeat thanks to a last minute missed penalty and an excellent display by Malta. Stuart McKinley in Malta writes for the Belfast Telegraph before the game:

When Northern Ireland last played in Malta in October 2001, Lawrie Sanchez was still in charge of Wycombe Wanderers in the Second Division. He was still almost two-and-a-half years away from becoming the international manager, but he is quite familiar with the Mediterranean island. The last of his three appearances in a green shirt came here in a 2-0 win in April 1989 and even 16 years on, Sanchez looks back on his international career as being much too short.

"The last time I was in Malta I played 70 minutes, was substituted and then was never seen again," he said. "I had been in the team for the previous game against Spain and I felt that I had played well that night. "I thought that I had an okay game against Malta but was then taken off and it frustrated me that I wasn't called up after that." Sanchez's international career lasted only three games, from his debut in November 1986 in Turkey to that Malta game..

And Stuart McKinley after the game.

More about the Malta-N.Ireland 1-1 draw from MaltaFootball.com

Battlefield Malta

A new Microsoft computer game features Malta as a battlefield with the Knights of Malta fighting the invasion of the Ottoman Turks. From Underground Online:

The first campaign begins on the island of Malta, where the local inhabitants - appropriately christened the Knights of Malta - are fighting off an invasion from the Ottoman Turks. The player enters in the role of Morgan, who must lead his troops against the Turkish commander, Sahin. In a new gameplay feature that harkens back to the unique units of Age of Mythology, AOE3 puts characters like Morgan into the game, where they act as supercharged characters that will resurrect themselves after death. The story progresses from Malta to the Caribbean and finally to the Americas, where groups like the Spanish and even pirates are introduced and fought against...

Hands on impressions of the fight for the New World - Age of Empires III by Steve Butts

Hgejjeg

The Hgejjeg blog is one of the most creative Maltese blogs on the blogosphere. In this long post, the writer discusses his background and explains how and when he discovered blogging. From Kelmtejn qabel immorru:

Din il-biċċa xogħol ta' l-ibloggar kienet xi ħaga li, għal bosta raġunijiet, minn dejjem kont noħlom biha. L-idea li tkun parti minn netwerk vast ta' individwi minn kull rokna ta' "l-misħut globu" minn dejjem saħħritni. Mhux biss minħabba li l-blogg hu mezz ta' espressjoni u komunikazzjoni tassew ħieles u sa ċertu punt, anke bla fruntieri, iżda wkoll għax kapaċi jgħaqqad flimkien bosta mħuħ f'proċess kontinwu tassew intriganti ta' qsim ta' esperjenzi u ideat..

L-iżjed wieħed li nsegwi fost dawn hu dak ta' Immanuel Mifsud, li permezz ta' bloggtu, wara seba' snin eżilju, issa stabbilejt miegħu mill-ġdid xi forma ta' kuntatt frekwenti. Minkejja li dan il-kuntatt huwa biss virtwali, it-tgedwid tiegħu jibbastani tajjeb ħafna biex nitfakkar mill-ġdid f'dawk l-għomeliji dwar il-poeta Malti favorit tiegħi Achille Mizzi. Immanuel Mifsud kien wieħed mill-iżjed persuni influwenti f'ħajti..

Blogg ieħor li nsegwi ta' spiss huwa t-Tempji Mqabbda ta' Robert Micallef, li minn hawn nirringrazzjah ħafna talli x-xahar li għadda għoġbu jżejjen lil bloggti bi tliet premji Roberts. L-inizjattiva ta' Robert, li jwettaqha b'dedikazzjoni sfiqa, forsi nistgħu nsejjħulha meta-bloggar, għax il-prodott aħħari tagħha huwa blogg dwar il-bloggs. U apparti dan, ma rridux ninsew il-listi eżawrenti tiegħu dwar dak li tajjeb jew ħażin, ikun qiegħed jitħarbex ta' kull ġimgħa fil-ġurnali rikki lokali tagħna..

Imbagħad hemm il-blogg ta' Twanny, li huwa poeta, lingwista u traduttur mustaċċun. Il-blogg tiegħu nqisu bħala tribut mimli mħabba lejn l-ilsien Malti f'sens wiesa', tant li fih issib tagħrif dwar il-lingwa Maltija li ma ssibux f'sorsi oħrajn kif ġieb u laħaq. Dan l-aħħar kelli x-xorti niltaqa' miegħu xi darbtejn. Minkejja l-merti akkademiċi tal-blogg ta' Twanny, l-iżjed ħaġa li tolqotni fi Twanny hu Twanny inniffsu, li f'moħħi spiss nassoċjah man-nom "tjieba"..

U fl-aħħar ma rridx ninsa nsemmi Ħġejjeġ, il-blogg ta' l-Imżebbel… il-Pulċinell ta' Ġeżebel u x'naf jien, li frankament ormai qtajt qalbi nsiblu rkaptu. Dan daqqa jitfalna xi poeżija, daqqa xi dramm sovversiv u nejjieki li lanqas l-iżjed teatrant m'aħniex ma jazzarda jtella', daqqa joħroġ b'xi ħamallata, daqqa jsabbat jew jgħolli mas-sema xi artist, daqqa jispekula dwar il-Bniedem il-Ġdid tas-Seklu Wieħed u Għoxrin, u sejrin...

Kurat Gybexi has set up a forum at BloggsMaltin as a platform for technical discussions amongst Maltese bloggers

Weekly Press Digest - august 11 to august 17

Wednesday17: Austin Gatt's sharp rebuke for his cabinet colleagues, the film commissioner and the Times editor; The female participation in the labour market is way below the European average; Bus strike continues; Jixtru biljetti ghall-lotterija super 5 flok jixtru mill-hwienet
Tuesday16: Kevin Aquilina writes about the need for a Freedom of Information Act; Mario Azzopardi featured in Mediterranean literary project; Henry Brincat talks to Maltese snooker champion Alex Borg; Government publishes Council of Europe report on detention centres; Austin Sammut asks when we will stop messing things up; From Cheshire Online, MDHC in running to operate Malta Dockyards
Monday15: The Maltese islands celebrate the feast of Santa Maria; MLP leaders conclude visit to Sydney, Australia after a number of cultural events and visits to Maltese owned companies;
Ta’ Cenc landowners deny intentions of golf course land development; Marisa Micallef says that we must find 'the middle way between the pious and the racist'; Minister intervenes to stop publication of interview with Film Commissioner, Times editorial; Natalino Fenech interviews Peppi Azzoppardi; Ahna qeghdin jew mhux qeghdin fl-Unjoni Ewropea, isaqsi Dun Ang Seychell; Joe Mifsud jirrifletti dwar vakanza fit-Tunezija; Charles Flores jaghti harsa lejn il-qaghda tar-radju f’Malta
Sunday14: The European Movement states that Malta joined the European Union to end its isolation but now "Malta acts as if it is oblivious to what it was saying just a couple of years ago"; RyanAir to reopen negotiations with the Maltese authorities and Malta International Airport; Colonel Gaddafi to visit Malta; Sunday Times publishes racism survey conclusions; Pamela Hansen on noise pollution; Richard A. Matrenza shares his observations on CHOGM 2005; SPMC students visit Germany; A Maltese qualifications framework for a knowledge-based economy, by James Calleja; Karl Schembri exposes the bus ticketing fiasco; Matthew Vella interviews AFM Commander Carmel Vassallo
Saturday13: Malta not compliant with EU electronic waste directive; Labour leader indicates support for the right to Maltese citizenship for Australian citizens of Maltese descent; JG Vassallo writes about Malta's Potemkin syndrome; Adrian Vassallo on stemming the erosion of values; Il-popolazzjoni taz-zghazagh tkompli tonqos; Il-prospetti li l-Partit Laburista jirbah l-elezzjoni generali li jmiss jidhru tajbin, jghid Wenzu Mintoff
Friday12: Public transport continues strike actions; A European Citizen Action Service (ECAS) reports shows that migration between old and new EU member states is below the 1% increase forecast at the time of enlargement; No emergency funds at EU level to help the Maltese government combat the illegal immigrants crisis
Thursday11: Stalemate between Government and GWU over Interprint controversy; Daphne Caruana Galizia on restaurant angst and the Maltese race; Over 90 per cent of respondents to Times online poll say that Malta should take unilateral action to halt the influx of illegal immigrants while Deputy Prime Minister laments EU sluggishness; Ranier Fsadni and Leo Brincat on the death of Robin Cook; Vanessa Mcdonald interviews Sue Vella, the new CEO at ETC

Robert Micallef's Blog

My new personal blog is now up and running. Wired Temples will continue on a daily basis as a platform for Malta related information on the web with the usual features including the Weekly Press Digest, the monthly Top Ten Maltese blog posts and other new upcoming items. My comments, thoughts and opinions will be channelled via my personal blog. Although the new blog will be a more private space, it will also have a wider focus on politics, media, culture, technology and international affairs. I hope that it will help foster debate, serve as an exchange of links, thoughts, and information and also encourage more people to set up their own blogs.

A tribute in London for Maltese heroes

Caroline Davies, writing for the Daily Telegraph, says that it was 'a pivotal moment for the Allies, yet for more than 60 years no national memorial existed in Britain to commemorate the Siege of Malta'. A monument in London has just been erected as a tribute to those who died defending Malta during Pedestal's five-day battle, which ended as the Santa Maria convoy entered the Grand Harbour of Valletta on Aug 15, 1942. From the online Telegraph:

Malta, then part of the British Empire, was strategically crucial, lying alone in a hostile Mediterranean, 800 miles from its nearest allies in Gibraltar and Alexandria. If it fell, North Africa was likely to follow. For three years it was the fulcrum on which the fate of war was balanced. More than 7,000 civilians and servicemen and women died during the siege, which saw Malta sustain some of the worst bombing of the war.

In Malta, those lost defending the island are commemorated by the Siege Bell, a granite memorial unveiled by the Queen in 1992. Yet, despite the numbers of British military involved, no national memorial had been erected in Britain until now. The memorial, which stands outside All Hallows church near the Tower of London, was the idea of Fred Jewett, now 82, who served as an able seaman in the destroyer Ashanti, escorting the supply ships on Operation Pedestal...

After a five-day running battle, the convoy's four surviving merchant vessels and the tanker Ohio - carrying precious fuel, heavily damaged from seven direct hits, and under tow - arrived at Valletta. The siege was broken and within months North Africa was retaken. "The memorial honours all those who gave their lives defending Malta and it will provide a lasting recognition and focus for everyone who participated during the siege," said Mr Lewin.

Memorial to veterans - Guardian

Nanotech gap

TNT log is a blog that concentrates on news about nanotechnology from a global perspective. This post comments about the lack of nanotechnology infrastructure in Malta:

Here’s an interesting headline reported in the Malta Independent “ No nanotechnology infrastructure found in Malta.” Malta is not alone, apparently according to NanoForum, “no nanotechnology infrastructures or networks have been found in Malta, Croatia, Cyprus, Iceland, Slovakia and Liechtenstein.” We cannot comment on the rest of the list, but based on our experience of a few days as guests of the Icelandic nanotech community, the relatively small population of Iceland, and the concentration of most of the population in Reykjavik obviates the need for a for a network as everyone already knows everyone who matters and no one is more than a fifteen minute drive away. Presumably the same applies to Liechtenstein and Malta?

NanoTechnology Now; Foresight Nanotech Institute
A blank Czech for Nanotech

Maltese shark plea

Dive South Africa is a Pretoria based blog dedicated to news and articles relating to scuba diving, shark attacks, marine and environmental issues in South Africa and around the world. This post discusses sharks around Malta:

Sharks whose main prey is tuna will follow tuna, so a few years back, when tuna-farming was not practised, tuna migrated past the Maltese Islands every year and sharks followed. So whether it is tuna in a farm or tuna in the wild, sharks will be there. In fact, it was reported that the shortfin mako was trapped in the tuna fishing lines, chasing wild tuna..

If sharks were removed from their ecosystem around the Maltese Islands, the effect could be to create an imbalance in the numbers of the species upon which they feed. This imbalance could in turn negatively affect the availability of food and other resources all the way down the food chain which could eventually threaten commercial fishing. For example, octopuses eat lobsters and sharks eat octopuses. A declining number of sharks could not control the octopuses eating the lobsters... and if that does not worry you, maybe this will. Sharks are immune to most diseases, including cancer, and are the subject of intense medical research that could one day benefit man..

Nature Trust (Malta) is embarking on a Shark, Skate and Ray Identification programme that will assist scientists and conservation groups, to determine whether or not some species require protection. More information from: info@naturetrustmalta.org

SharkTrust.org

Taking censorship to the extreme?

In a bizarre turn of events, a prominent member of the Maltese Government has forced the Times of Malta to withdraw an interview with Malta's Film Commissioner that was due for publication today. Minister Austin Gatt, who has a portfolio covering investments, industry and technology, forcefully intervened to ensure that an interview with Film Commissioner Oliver Mallia remains unpublished. Austin Gatt had suggested that he should have been the one interviewed by the Times since he is the person ultimately responsible for policy in the sector. The Malta Film Commission is responsible for promoting and developing Malta's film industry. The editor of the Times today publishes an email exchange with a ministry representative that throws alarming light on the government's approach to media freedom. The ministry stated that the film commissioner "is appointed and removed by the minister" and that "the whole essence of the matter is the importance that questions are put to the right people and answered by the right people". From today's Times:

An interview with Film Commissioner Oliver Mallia, which was scheduled to appear on The Times today, will not be published following the intervention of the Ministry of IT and Public Investments, under whose wing the Film Commission falls. A journalist of The Times asked Mr Mallia for an interview some weeks back and this was eventually held. An advance copy of the write-up was submitted to Mr Mallia on Wednesday and he informed the journalist he would in turn pass a copy over to the ministry. Subsequently, a ministry official contacted the journalist and, among other things, offered her an interview with the minister, an offer the journalist did not deem appropriate and which she therefore politely refused. The official also asked the journalist to meet him but again she refused saying she would report the matter to the editor of The Times...

In the meantime, the journalist who had conducted the interview received an e-mail from Mr Mallia saying: "I regret to inform you that I did not attain the necessary approval from the ministry for (the interview's) publication. "Kindly refer any questions regarding the Malta Film Commission to the Ministry for Investment, Industry and Information Technology. Apologies for any inconvenience caused." In the circumstances, the editor sent an e-mail to Claudio Grech, head of the minister's secretariat, saying: "The Times has just been informed that an interview it conducted with the Film Commissioner and scheduled for publication this coming Monday cannot be carried as he 'did not attain the necessary approval from the ministry for its publication'...

The Times editor then made the following point: "Once again thank you for your replies. But I do have something