On blogs and the passing of time

Mornings at the board room of the local Marsaxlokk council offices is becoming one of my routines.  There is free wi-fi here and they also use the room for craft classes so yesterday I signed up to learn bobbin lace-making in a new class starting in two weeks.

Another of my routines is daily shopping for fresh bread, fish and vegetables and usually a walk or bike ride on the pot-holed country roads that criss-cross the small fields with their dry-stone walls.

I am still waiting for internet access at home but there is a problem with the phone line into my flat.  I am using this as an excuse not to get into a writing routine!  I have just re-read some of my old blogs to try and organise my thoughts for posting the stories I have missed out so far.  It is curious how this form of writing confronts me with the collision between immediacy and planning.  It is startling to read my stories as my plans play out in experience.  And when experiences are coming thick and fast, there is no time for the reflection that is the basis of writing, so past, present and future start jumbling up together. 

Yesterday I went up to Valletta to get a Maltese ID card.  It seems that I need this in order to get grey re-cycling bags from the local council.  I eventually found the right office down at the end of the main road through Valletta.  Just found out I need to post and get off so the cleaner can come in.  Will continue this afternoon.

Didn't make it back in the afternoon as I got into flat-cleaning mode preparatory for my first venture into entertaining planned for lunch today.  I tried again this morning but the council connection was down so now I've come to a cafe on the front where I have discovered they have free wi-fi.  There are traditional luzzus bobbing on their moorings across the road and wireless with coffee!

Lunch was to thank the couple in the flat below me who have been very helpful as I find out about the local way of life.  I made stuffed round zuchinis using a recipe suggested by a woman buying vegetables from the cart up by the public library.  The cart is there everyday, all day.  The public library, located in the local school is only open for two hours a day and I haven't been lucky enough to strike one of the open hours yet.  But I still have plenty of reading matter accumulated from my travels.

The couple are from Devon and have bought the flat below me a few years ago.  They are my age but their commitments in England prevent them staying here as long as they would like.  They go back tomorrow and will be away for the month of October.  I am glad that my neighbours are thoughtful people as the style of living here in Malta is very crowded and everyone has to work on enabling privacy for each other.  But they have already built up a network of friends amongst the local people and have given me lots of useful information about how things work.

Yesterday I bought my mobile phone to use for local calls and I have succeeded in making my first phone call to my cousin who lives in Sliema in the winter and St Paul's bay in the summer.  Doris remembers coming to visit us and playing with me when I was a child in St Paul's bay but I can't remember her.  We are going to meet up for coffee in Sliema tomorrow morning.  She is going to wear a white dress with a red handbag!

I'll go on from Sliema to Valletta for Nocce Bianca which they are holding there in the evening.  There are performances and exhibitions happening all round the city and most of the heritage sites are staying open with free access.  I will write about it in my next post