And Carpenters Across the Nation Rejoiced…
November 14th, 2007, No Comments »
In actuality, the would-be thief used a hammer in an attempt to break the front window of an electronics shop. As you can see, he failed miserably.
Archive: Posts about Malta
Score!
November 12th, 2007, 6 Comments »
When Julie and I travel, we like to bring back a piece of artwork or old map or something to remember the place by. They make for unique, functional mementos and fond reminders of our travels. We’ve been wondering what we’d bring home from Gozo–it’s a tiny island and the local crafts (lace-making and glass-blowing) aren’t really to our taste.
This summer, a Coca-Cola rep blew through our village and gave free Coke-branded signs to two or three local business. Among these was Rangers, our local hangout. A week rarely goes by in which we don’t eat at least one meal at Rangers.
I asked Tony, Rangers’ proprietor, what he was doing with his old wood and iron sign. He didn’t have any plans, so we acquired it in exchange for a donation to the local football club (Rangers does not refer, as I originally though, to an owner named Ranger, but to the Gharb Rangers).
And here it is:
It’s about two-and-a-half feet long by two feet high, and (as you can see) has this big iron hanging bracket. We don’t plan to actually hang it in our future home, so the first order of business is cutting the chains that connect the bracket to the sign (they’re behind the sign in the photo). Then, of course, we need to ship it
I thought we might get it turned into a table. Do you have any bright ideas for bar sign re-use?
The Canucks in Gharb
November 9th, 2007, 2 Comments »
This morning I had the peculiar experience of watching a Canucks game in Malta. Courtesy of the NASN, I was able to catch last night’s Vancouver/Calgary game (not live, thankfully) while eating breakfast at our local bar.
And the Canucks won. Considering their early season play, that was a nice bonus. They took a 3-0 lead and then, in classic Vancouver fashion, made it interesting by taking the third period off. Happily Luongo played the full sixty minutes. They did look like a team missing three of their regular defencemen.
This will probably be the only hockey game I ever watch serenaded by the clanking metal-on-metal sound of a blacksmith across the street. When I say ‘blacksmith’, I’m serious. Change this guy’s clothing, and he could be living in any of the last ten centuries. He’s got an anvil at the centre of his workshop, an open fire, and every surface of his workspace is covered in black soot.
The Third Flood in Four Days
November 7th, 2007, 5 Comments »
There was a serious rain storm on Gozo this morning. It didn’t last long, but it was tropical and torrential.
For the third time in four days, we found ourselves trying to redirect a small stream. It entered the house via the kitchen cupboards and exited out the back patio. There’s been some recent changes to the local drainage system, and we drew the short straw.
I moved over 300 litres of water from my clever collection system (yes, it featured another towel dam) in the dining room to the back patio. I counted the buckets.
November, it turns out, is going to be our busiest month of the year, work wise. I wasn’t keen on spending three hours swabbing the decks when we should be gettin’ paid.
Once the flood waters had receded, I had a stern discussion with our landlady about her anti-diluvian strategy. Happily, she also owns the farmhouse next door (in fact, I think they used to be one big building and got subdivided).
So, until the drainage system gets sorted, we’ll be cooking and eating on the main floor of her other house, and living and working on the upper floors of our own. It’s a risk of renting an old stone house, but I’m just glad not to be facing more bailing.
Five Star Hotel, Two Star Wifi Page
November 5th, 2007, 3 Comments »
As we occasionally do, Julie and I spent a couple of hours today working in the lovely bar at the Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz. I think it’s the only five star hotel on Gozo, and despite its peculiar location (there are no views of the sea), it’s quite posh.
I wasn’t using the web, but I happened to visit the hotel’s portal page for its wifi service. Here it is:
That looks pretty weak, doesn’t it? Why does a five-star hotel, with its spa smelling of sandalwood and lavendar, it’s beautifully-tiled pools and gorgeously-appointed rooms, have such a crappy-looking login page? The Kempinski isn’t unique in this peculiar disconnect–I’ve seen worse in plenty of four and five-star hotels.
It’s a tiny thing, but swish hotels aspire to get the tiny things right. The five-star devil, after all, is in the details. On the other hand, at least I wasn’t presented with an image of some kind of fruitophile.
Incidentally, I took that screenshot with a great little OS X program that Monique tipped me off on. It’s called Paparazzi, and all it does is make a full-length screenshot of any URL you enter. It saves you the trouble of stitching screenshots together.
Lots of Empty Houses in Malta
October 30th, 2007, 3 Comments »
One of the hot topics among locals here on Malta is the building boom. They often speak about how there’s too much supply for the current demand. And, indeed, there seem to be new houses and small apartment blocks going up at the edges of many villages, even on Gozo. Often the construction is happening next to a couple new but vacant buildings.
A recent article in The Malta Times describes the scope of the issue:
The census shows that the number of vacant dwellings now amount to about 53,000, an astonishing increase of 17,000 since 1995. In percentage terms, this means that 26 per cent of dwellings are vacant. Moreover, only 10,028 of these properties are holiday homes…
With a landmass almost eight times as large as Malta’s and about 100,000 more residents, Luxembourg has some 20,000 fewer dwellings. While there are 53,136 vacant properties in Malta, Luxembourg has only 4,000. Ireland, with a total stock of 1.4 million dwellings has only around 7,000 vacant dwellings or 0.5 per cent of the total stock.
That’s 53,000 empty residences on an island with about 400,000 people. The article goes on to say that Greece and Portugal are actually worse off.
What’s the cause? One reason, apparently, is that there’s no property tax in Malta. So it doesn’t cost owners anything to simply leave their properties alone. I suspect there are many cases of Maltese people living abroad whose parents have died and left them (often unwanted) property on the islands.
No Leafs Fans in Gharb
October 24th, 2007, 4 Comments »
James and I were walking down the lane outside our farmhouse on Gozo, and I happened to glance at a bag of garbage awaiting pickup. Look a little closer–what’s that inside?
Outside of Toronto, everybody hates the Leafs.
Big Storm Last Night
October 22nd, 2007, 4 Comments »
It’s been occasionally windy here on Malta, and we’ve had a couple of storms. But last night was serious, which winds gusting up to 75 km/h. The back patio is covered in debris, and there’s a sizable tree limb on our balcony. I was surprised that our sun loungers ended up in the pool. They’re plastic, but they’re reasonably heavy:
It’s no wonder all the houses are built of stone here.
Just What Every Tourist Wants to See
October 11th, 2007, 2 Comments »
When we sat down to dinner at a restaurant in Xlendi, Monique noted an odd correction to the menu:
I have no objection to people eating horses–it’s just peculiar that they subsequently crossed it out. Did they run out of horse? What meat are they using instead?
In related news, Monique has written an exhaustive and illustrated account of her and James’s first week on Gozo. It’s pretty typical of what our guests do. Give it a read if you want to live vicariously through them. You may also want to check out their photo sets.
My Memory Map of Gozo
October 8th, 2007, 1 Comment »
I recently discovered that the satellite photos of Malta in Google Maps are vastly improved. When we planning our trip, Gozo was just a big greenish-brown blur. Now the resolution matches other parts of the world I’ve looked at.
For hilly countryside full of terraces and few landmarks, the new satellite photos are a real blessing. There are a couple of spots I’ve been trying to reach on my bike, but was never quite sure where they are. The overhead view makes all the difference.
I started messing around with Google Map’s newish ‘My Maps’ functionality, labelling points of personal interest around the island. In no time, I was up to fifty points, complete with Flickr photos and the occasional link. Here’s my memory map of Gozo–it’s a work in progress:
That interface is kind of a joy to work with. The joy, I think, harkens back to a childhood spent making Dungeons & Dragons maps.