Friday 18 September 2009

The good life

So, I thought I'd air a few thoughts on life in Malta.

My overwheming impression is one of "relaxedness". The driving is chaotic, but in a mellow kind of way. It's not like Italy where people are racing to be the first people there, wherever "there" is. Meetings with the CEO of my host are scheduled for 10 in the morning, everybody sort of pitches up at half past, has a good natter and some of their execrable instant coffee and then the meeting sort of happens until they start to talk about the weekend's football. They all seem to take stuff seriously, but don't stress about it. Lunch is a ten minute walk in the sun to a cafe which is just as relaxed as the CEO's office, but with better coffee.

I'm staying in a jolly nice hotel called the Phoenicia, which is absolutely great, but it has one downside. They can't make coffee either. There coffee isn't horrible, it just doesn't taste of anything at all. Well, yesterday's didn't. Today's coffee at least tasted like something, I just couldn't quite work out what it was. After last week's stint in France, where the coffee was uniformly excellent it seems that the Maltese still have to raise the bar a little here.

And fuck me, I have never been so lost in my life. After a couple of days of being shown around, I still don't think I could find my Fgura with both Merhba.

Stunning place, though. And the people are still old-school hospitable. I love it, I really do.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

All this coffee drinking. You aren't gay by any chance?

JPT said...

Nice people - ask them about 'glue sticks' the sick fucks.

Anonymous said...

As with little tweetie pie birds? Not nice, very not nice.

JPT said...

Mr Steed: You are spot on.

Thortung The Terrible said...

I realy love Malta, epecially Mellieha and Mosta, we try to head out in spring every year to get away from the crap weather and crap people in this country.

The only downside is places like Bugibba full of drunken Brits in season and the plumbing, which never seems to work when you really need it to.