Karen Gales Youngson: A Day of Sunshine

Every morning we are up before dawn. We get to sit with our coffee and watch the sky lighten across the bay over Millieha. At night we can watch the lights of the traffic winding their way down the hairpin turns of the road from town to the bay. As the day begins we can also watch the lights of the morning traffic winding down the hill. For the last few days it has been a full moon that has set behind Millieha. The moon sets, the sun rises and sparkles off the windows as the street lights go out. It is a beautiful transformation from night to day.

Geographically Malta sits somewhat between Italy and Greece. I'm not sure how quite to express this but the colour of their cultures seem to fit the same as their locations. All Greek structures appear to be created of white stone. Buildings in Italy comply to the warm colours of red, yellows and browns. And Malta, in the middle is mostly the subtle tones of aged ochres and yellows.

My iPad would never be able to capture the transformation so Bob took this picture with his camera. It is just before sunrise and a bit hard to see that the lights are still on. It is a photo that tells so much. It shows the density of two small towns that are separated only by the tiered and rock walled farm plots that feed their communities and the bay where fishermen bring in the fresh catch every day. Towns are often not separated by much more than a kilometre and sometimes by only by a few blocks.

We spent the morning sitting on the beach at Golden Bay. I had my feet in the Mediterranean Sea for the first time, felt the sand between my toes. It was wonderful for a winter's day. We had lunch in Mgarr in the best, and possibly the only restaurant set in the square in front of the local church that is known as the 'Egg Church' because it's construction, in the 1930's, was funded from the sale of eggs by the local citizens.

The people from the cars in this picture are all eating in the IL-Barri restaurant behind the potted plants to the right. We sat outside at one of four tables and there were probably at least twenty people eating inside. More food descriptions....seafood penne, Maltese style and two HopLeaf beers. Simple fare but tasty.

Our bus riding skills are definitely improving and we were home sooner than we expected. We do our own version of Hop on, Hop off bussing without paying to ride in one of these. A rough sketch because they don't stop for very long. One lady stood up on the top deck, took a picture of the Egg Church and they were off.

Observation.... I don't think this HSBC branch has to worry about being robbed with the 'Pulizija' station right next door. We are both happier in these smaller communities, eating locally and absorbing the contrasts of noisy traffic and a peaceful lunch. At one point a dump truck full to the brim with rock passed our table within ten feet.

Signage intrigues me because of the language.