Thought of the day

[gmarkj]

As part of the #o2surprise that I received last week, there was a jar of smiles. Many were keen to see what would come out of the jar each day, so here are the ones so far!

The one that I picked out on Friday was "If you want to see the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain".

This morning I picked out "Relax and reflect. A bad day doesn't mean it's a bad life".

[pgn]

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@Cleoriff wrote:

Yes, when we went to Malta with our 2 boys (8 and 10) at that time....they were either building it or knocking it down!!

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It's the sandstone, @Cleoriff - it disintegrates after a few decades and has to be renewed - concrete has replaced most of the sandstone now, as it is not cost effective to quarry the soft natural stone, soft enough to cut with a wood saw, out of the ever-deepening quarries.

[pgn]

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@Oxonian wrote:

Fascinating ! 👍

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Glad you find it so, @Oxonian 👍🏼

[Cleoriff]

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@pgn wrote:

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@Cleoriff wrote:

Yes, when we went to Malta with our 2 boys (8 and 10) at that time....they were either building it or knocking it down!!

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It's the sandstone, @Cleoriff - it disintegrates after a few decades and has to be renewed - concrete has replaced most of the sandstone now, as it is not cost effective to quarry the soft natural stone, soft enough to cut with a wood saw, out of the ever-deepening quarries.

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If I had the chance I'd like to go back to Malta again. Late 70's wasn't a good time. One of my staff nurses was born in Malta and she offered to sort out the apartment and a car for us. Luckily we had the address of the apartment as there was no car. So we got a taxi. We hoped there was someone to meet us as we had no keys!

Yes, a woman was there about to leave as we were late (hanging around for a car which never arrived)

Before mobiles so I knew what shift my staff nurse was working (I was fuming by this time). I rang the ward and spoke to her. She asked me to ring back later as she had to ring a cousin about the damn car.

It was about 86 degrees (F)

The apartment was large and lovely. We accepted there was no pool as we were told the sea was at the bottom of the road.

Yes, the the sea was there, no beach, just a load of rocks. The lads were gutted. We'd bought them lilo's and 5 mins after they went in the sea, the lilos were ripped to shreds.

By this time it was getting dark and no sign of a bar or cafe to eat a thing. I'd bought cereals, milk, teabags and sugar. We had cereals for an evening meal. By the time I rang my staff nurse back, she said the car would be here the following morning. She could tell I was pee'd off.

So once we had the car we could do some shopping and get a look at Malta. Problem was, so much had gone wrong the first day we weren't impressed. There was nothing there for kids unless we drove to the other side of the island.

So I expect it's improved a lot in 50 years..😂

[pgn]

With a population in excess of 0.5million on such a small island (17miles by 9miles roughly), the warning in the guide books is: "Remember that while Malta is small, traffic can be heavy, especially during peak hours, so plan accordingly when using road transport."

Someone from the pub quiz was there for a week last year, said traffic was atrocious and nose to tail during morning and afternoon rush (and many places still close between 1pm and 4pm) and the few sandy beaches on the island tend to be rammed from early-on to sunset. And as a result, accommodation in popular spots is expensive. We stayed about 15years ago at the start of July, a week up  in the north west, for the sandy beach experience, a week in the south-east for the rocky beach experience - pleasant enough as I knew where to go and the back roads, potholed as ever...

[Cleoriff]

@pgn 

We never had any trouble with that level of traffic, there again, as I said before, it was in the 70's.

So if the traffic is that bad, I probably wouldn't want a return trip!😂

I know my staff nurse was trying her best but we just felt she didn't give us a true picture of what to expect with two young kids.

I think the place we went to was called Qawra, near Bugibba. (I have just looked at a picture of it now and it was nothing like that 40 years ago). Still rocky but a lot more buildings! In the North I think.

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=Qwara+malta 

[pgn]

@Cleoriff - our first week, Għajn Tuffieħa in the north-west, view from hotel balcony:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/BMSE197LRHS8xcPH7?g_st=ac

Second week, Marsaxlokk, south-east - swimming off the dock along the road to the Delimara Power Station 🤣

Down the road to you can just see towards the rocky breakwater in the distance centre-left, view from the house we stayed in:

And the necessity, a tiny Tata Suzuki pothole-skipper (or puddle-jumper in the winter):

Parked opposite the house, facing away from the road to the dock where we swam 3 times daily. In 2009.

Link to streetview shows where we would park to swim:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/bnccDH95aWbntacT6?g_st=ac

[Cleoriff]

Well, we've certainly wandered off topic from Thoughts of the Day @pgn 😂

[pgn]

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@Cleoriff wrote:

Well, we've certainly wandered off topic from Thoughts of the Day @pgn 😂

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I dunno - I could think about the heat and swimming in the sea any day... 😎

We could ask a Mod to peel them off into their own OT thread 😂

[Cleoriff]

No problem going Off Topic, in an Off Topic thread. 😂

[Oxonian]

And a very informative off-topic too @pgn and @Cleoriff. 😀

Malta is a little larger and has more population but the stories of heavy traffic remind me of Jersey (CI). 👍