My New Life in Malta

One of the great things about Malta is that you can buy fresh fish. Currently, the lampuki is in season, and it is everywhere. The supermarket is selling it at low prices, and the restaurants seem to offer it everywhere. Even M’s mother has been making quite a lot of lampuki pie (and we have been the happy beneficiaries by taking a few home with us). I like to just bake it. It cooks very fast and has a nice taste of its own.

I recently found out that the lampuki is what is known in other countries as mahi-mahi. This fish swims from the Caribbean, all the way across the Atlantic Ocean and into the Mediterranean in order to breed… and be caught by Maltese fishermen. It is fascinating to know that the fish I am eating came from so far away. One of the wonders of the planet!

I had a request to talk about the Maltese weather. We are in the northern hemisphere, so autumn has just started. But it is a nice warm autumn, and it has been very pleasant lately. As I mentioned earlier, it is warm enough for something to have been planted in my little neighbouring valley. I am told that November and December stay relatively pleasant. Although today, all of a sudden the WIND started to blow with a vengeance. I have not been able to keep the windows open, because a mini storm blows right through the apartment and throws papers onto the floor. The flat is feeling a bit stuffy, so I think I will sit on the balcony for a bit to get some fresh air.

Malta seems to be going through a construction boom. I am told that real estate prices have been climbing steadily. About 20% of new houses are unoccupied, and there is a fear of a real estate bubble about to burst. However, construction does not seem to be slowing down. Up until last week, I could see six construction cranes out of my window. Now a seventh one plopped down next door (bringing with it the incessant noise of cutting into rock). An eighth one is just down the street, just out of view. The situation is similar all over the island. Driving down the main roads, I see cranes all over, and a construction site is never far.

M tells me that the pace of construction has not let up since he was a boy. Entire areas that were unspoiled are now entirely built up. Some villages have grown to the point where they run into each other, and a decision had to be made that from this street on it is one village, and on that side of the road it is the other village.

This is one of the ways in which Malta is a microcosm for many of the environmental problems that the world is facing, and here they can be more easily seen on a smaller scale. Living on an island reminds you that land is not infinite, and that nature areas need to be preserved if this is not going to turn into one big heap of concrete.

Similarly, there is a rubbish landfill that is growing ever bigger. Driving past it, one gets a sniff of the foul-smelling gasses that escape from it. The country’s waste has to go somewhere, and there seems to be more of it every day. I am surprised that recycling is not really big here. A small country like this, with limited space and few resources, should be a pioneer in the field. I only hope that this soon becomes a priority. Perhaps as the Maltese see that rubbish mountain growing ever bigger, someone will take action…

I have not written in a few days, and there has been a reason. All of a sudden I started getting tons of readers, and people started leaving lots of comments. I was cracking my head trying to figure out how this happened, but then some of the new readers alerted me to the fact that my little blog was featured on a Maltese website called Wired Temples. It seems to be a place where they showcase a Malta-related blog every day.

Things got even weirder. I got a phone call the next day from a friend, because apparently she works with the wife of somebody who had read my blog. Not only that, but they had all figured out who I was and had traced it back to me. Then I told M about all of this, and it turns out that the person running Wired Temples is an acquaintance of his, and the other day I had even met him briefly and had shaken his hand (though we did not talk as we were in a group).

Those who know me will be very amused by my reaction: I found it all totally overwhelming and a bit freaky… and couldn’t bring myself to write again for days. But I have now reconciled myself with the fact that this is a small country, and something like this was bound to happen. I have been encouraged by the comments people have been leaving welcoming me to the island.

And so, to make up for this absence, I will post a few different entries today.

Finally I have a question: does anyone know how I can comment on a comment? I am new at this and I could not figure it out.