By Patrick Bugeja
From the air when we used to come to visit this big rock in the middle of the ocean we used to look for it. As soon as the pilot told us that we were approaching Luqa airport my little boy once said: "But where is it pappa?"and looked out of the window not to see anything. Malta was hidden under the left wing. So small we are, yet so comfortable she is our Malta. Touchdown, yellow, everything yellow, heatrush as soon as the doors were opened. A feeling of peace, warm, everybody in shorts. We could see people waiting for their sons and daughters waving from the balcony, seeing their children coming back. Hoping that one day they will come back for ever " No, Malta very easy, very good, come and stay" my mother used to say to us every time we came for our holidayvisit. The whole village would know that "Patrick ta Nettu" is home. And out of four weeks of our stay we did two or three weeks visiting in Nanna u in Nannu u iz-zija u iz-ziju and so on. Anyway, by the time we went back to Stockholm we would have said hello and ciao more times than during the rest of the year in Stockholm.
What a place, what a character in this "do all-do nothing" country. The rolly-pollys are a must and the pastizzi, they are a meal. It's character of roads and houses makes it a uinque sight. I have missed it and on my return two years ago I felt my soul wanting to stay. Looking back before climbing the ladder to the skyes and fly away again, my heart broke down after many years in Sweden living in Stockholm.
Stockholm is a great city. I'm proud to have been part of it's people. It's wonderful and colourful. I have worked and slept in this city of vikings. As Ulla Lithgren from Stockholm wrote, Sweden has a lot of vast forests - Malta has Barracka gardens. I say, Malta has San Anton Gardens. Sweden is over 1000 km long. Malta is 25 km long. She wrote that Sweden has winter, summer, spring and fall, while Malta has only spring and summer. I say, it has a winter too. A cold winter and very dramatic one. High seas and heavy rain. She wrote Sweden has about 8 million people-Malta about 350,000. I say, Sweden has about everything and so does Malta What one needs to live and breathe.
One must feel Malta's strength through the air that has been here since the stoneage. My ancesters were the stoneage people. Followed by so many others. From the phoenicians, to the romans, the arabs, the knights, the french, and the british. They all left their traces which makes Malta of today.
Across the water north of Malta you can see at a short distance another island - the island of Gozo. Visiting, one must walk through the many small villages, where one can feel that time stood still. The beauty of time went by. Today they live their own lifestyle within another time. Once in a village step into a local kazin and have "te bil-pastizzi". You will meet the old people that can tell a thousand stories through their faces.
Here I am writing to you from the village of Mosta, with a cup of tea and a heater ticking, in a house that was exsiting 200 years ago and still is today.
I too would like to write a book one day about Malta and it's islands. Just like another friend of mine, which is Ulla Lithgren. We would have so much to write about.
Malta sends her love to all of you.