The photo is of St Barbara, beautifully embossed on a canon at the Maritime museum in Birgu. St Barbara was the patron saint of guns and sails. Sailors used to pray to her when they were in strife at sea, particularly in thunderstorms. Saint Barbara is also the name of my brother's sailing boat which was built in 1940s for the British artillery service.
Yesterday I had another full day. I started out in Valletta again for the Sunday morning concert. This time, the St James consort were into the third part of their Scarlatti project. They performed two chamber cantata with bass vocalist Albert Buttigieg. These Scarlatti cantata were particularly composed for small, intimate settings and are not well known. Writing cantata for the bass voice is even rarer and so it was a treat to hear about the sadness of love from such a profound perspective! We also enjoyed a Corelli sonata for two violins and harpsichord.
After the concert, I hurried to the bus terminus to get the 19 bus to Fgura where I was invited for lunch with Mary and Joseph, the parents of our local librarian. The number 19 goes to Marsascala and I had instructions to ask the driver to put me off at the Chain supermarket where Carmen would call me on my mobile. I kept my eyes peeled as we went through the main street of Fgura but didn't spot the supermarket and the bus driver didn't say anything. When we got to Zabbar, I decided to ask! The bus driver had forgotten me. So he dropped me back at a corner and pointed down the road to walk back. My glimpse of Zabbar made me make a mental note to go and visit there soon. Somehow I have missed it although it is close to the historic three cities area.
As I walked along the road towards an old gate in the middle of a roundabout, Carmen phoned me with instructions to wait there until she picked me up. It seems I hadn't spotted the supermarket because it is just round a corner from the bus route.
Lunch was great! We had chicken soup, chicken with roast potatoes and vegetables, and fruit salad with ice-cream. Carmen's son was playing football that morning. He is captain but the team lost 2-1. His dream is to go to Australia to play football. Mary and Joseph would also love to return to Australia, but Mary would miss her grandchildren too much. Joseph told us stories about his birthplace in Birgu, learning his trade in the dockyard and the family's experience in WW2.
Joseph and Carmen translated the letter I received earlier in the week about the Brockdorf prints I ordered some time ago. The letter was in Malti and I learnt that I have to go to an event at the National library to pick up my copy of the prints and of the book that accompanies them.
After lunch, Mary, Carmen and I headed off to the Maritime museum in Birgu where there was a special event on, organised by Heritage Malta. The day was about life at sea 200 years ago and there was an exhibition supported by a small booklet 'The Malta Maritime Museum Sailor's Pocket Book" designed to guide children around the experience of setting off on a voyage from Malta. The booklet tells us about food rations, knots, how to evade your enemy and slavery, and how to trade goods. There was also a guided tour by the same young man who lead the Heritage Malta tour some months ago and gave us the lecture in English about the knights navy (see previous post). This time the tour was in Malti and the large crowd was entirely Maltese apart from me.
We also went outside and watched the firing of a small canon down the channel between moored boats in the marina. After the loud bang, I was expecting to see one of the luxury boats starting to sink, but they all sat there quietly! It seems that in the days before workplace health and safety, many of the gunners were deaf by the time they finished work.
There was still a huge crowd in the museum when closing time of 5.00pm approached. Mary invited us back to Fgura for a cup of tea before Carmen dropped me off at Marsaxlokk. I now have two oranges from Mary's yard sitting in my fruit basket and I thank them all for a special day.
Before I close this post, I received an email from my neighbour, Sally pointing out that I hadn't said anything about the arrival of my tambour and flute on Thursday. The tambour arrived safely, delivered by a young man from Sierra books and I will receive a phone call when the flute is available. Once they are both here, I'll compose a photo for posting.
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