Wrapping up 2010

You might recall the last post - the trip to Malta for a wedding. Soon after that trip, it was time to go back yet again, this time for the Christmas break. You might also recall that the last flight was threatened by the snow and bad weather and Gatwick was on the brink of closure and we were flying from Gatwick. This time round, we were flying from Heathrow and, surprise, surprise, it was Heathrow's turn to be traumatised by the British winter!

The flight was scheduled for 8.40pm but the plane needed de-icing and left only after 10pm, arriving at Malta after 2am and thus finally going to bed almost at 3.30am. That particular night was probably the one and only really stormy night in Malta for December 2010 and the plane simply could not land but the wise pilot finally managed to get that Airbus on the ground with us passengers barely noticing, despite the heavy rain, lightning, thunder and wind that was enveloping the aircraft from all directions. By the time I was about to sleep, some God-sent rooster happily living in one of the neighbour's gardens decided to start crowing, but this was no hindrance to sleep immediately after landing in my bed!

We stayed in Malta for 10 days until Boxing Day but the week was full to the brim with activities. We had the traditional annual Christmas dinner with all of our mates, which included the Secret Santa antic (I bought my gift from London and with the 5 euro budget got a book worth £25!!) and in turn received a cool book of archaic, sadly disappearing Maltese words grouped under various topics. The next day I headed off to Valletta on a mini guys' night out and gladly remembered that in Malta you can buy a round for 4 with just 6 euro, whereas in London you pay that much for 2 drinks at most, if lucky. Good times; how I love Valletta. Then on the next day I had a reunion with some old mates, some of whom I had not seen for almost a decade and it was great catching up! Then Christmas Eve was very busy preparing for the Christmas do at home, which was more involving this year. Shopping, cleaning and cooking (well, helping thereof). And then we headed for a Midnight Mass at Valletta with the newly-wed couple from October's wedding (the couple from December were honeymooning at the Maldives!) and although the service was well animated and cheerful, it was too long and only finished in the early hours of the 25th...

On Christmas Day, we had a whole day of feasting, feeding, drinking and talking at home, where the dining room was filled to its capacity with the addition of the in-laws, but all went well. Especially the food, which I miss badly (English "cuisine" simply sucks) but at least it gets me to appreciate it more whenever I am at home. The Malta trip soon came to an end and on Boxing Day we headed back to London, the first flight in ages with no hassles! And once back in London, my poor wife embarked on a marathon of revising and studying for the January exams, which brought feelings reminiscent of December 2007 when I was studying for my own M.Sc. exams, except that I had 1 week less than her, so she cannot complain really!

I took a week off and stayed at home most of the time, except that the honeymooners made their final stop of their month long holiday here in London. This called for my London guide services, which we did this morning. We met them again later on tonight for the NYE fireworks display beside the River Thames, but that story spills over into 2011, so will leave it for the next post.

2010, the final year of the first decade of the new millennium, was a colourful year. The year characterised by the opening of Burj Khalifa (the world's tallest building) in Dubai, the Mexico Gulf oil spills much to the worry of BP, devastating earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, the Icelandic ash clouds, the iPad, the crisis in Greece and Ireland, the World Cup in South Africa and the fun related to Paul the psychic octopus, the elections in the UK, the 40th anniversary of Glastonbury, the "scandals" of WikiLeaks, the drama of the Chilean miners and the protests in London and Rome over high tuition fees and cuts in education budgets respectively.

In Malta, 2010 is remembered as the year of firework-related tragedies, the visit of Pope Benedict XVI, the deaths of Guido DeMarco and Nikol Cauchi, the series of mafia-style robberies and attempted murders, the presentation of JPO's divorce bill in Parliament, the quasi-comical floating coffins in the Qormi flood waters, the power station debates, the repeated countrywide blackouts, the collision of a truck into the Marsa bridge bringing the country to a halt, the Isle of MTV and massive concerts by Elton John, Rod Stewart and Joseph Calleja and the usual never-ending tit-tat of Maltese politics.

For me, 2010 will be simply characterised by one event: the year of our wedding.

The final wedding of 2010

Soon after the Crewe experience, I must say that the temperatures started to seriously plunge closer to freezing and, in a few days, also went down below freezing. I am not one who usually complains of the cold, but the past 2-3 weeks were really cold! And I also got a cold. And it soon started snowing. After 2.5 years in the UK, this was not the first time I saw snow but I was still excited to see the usual London streetscapes being transformed to one uniform shade of white. But there was more distress than pleasure to this particular snow fall...

The unusually heavy snow meant that many airports across the UK had to close down, including Gatwick Airport. And it happened that we had to make one rare use of Gatwick to fly down to Malta for the wedding of 2 of our good mates! The flight was scheduled on the Saturday at 7.30am and Gatwick was meant to be closed till the Friday at 6.00am. It did open on the Friday but 80% of the flights were cancelled. So we spent all Friday checking the train company, airport and airline webpages for constant updates. Come Friday midnight, all was scheduled to work, except that the earliest train was leaving Victoria at 6am and the gate closed at 7am. Tight. We slept and got up at 3.30am, hoping for the best.

Remembering that morning brings fresh pains. It is already hard waking up so early, but even harder venturing in a temperature of -2 or so and in the rain. To cut a long story short, we made it to Victoria (2 buses worth of travel) and hoped that we get our booked train (the 5am one). Alas, we had to get the 6am train, which got to Gatwick at 6.35am, took the shuttle to the North Terminal and got there at 6.50am and impatiently passed through security at 7.00am and arrived at the gate at 7.03am after one frantic run. Just in time! All buckled and breathless, the plane took off and 3 hours later landed in Malta, where a temperature of 18 degrees awaited.

And now for the big day, the purpose of our trip: Daphne's and Vince's wedding. It was a splendid Sunday morning, sunny and crisp. We headed off to Naxxar church and all was punctual and well-organised (what else would you expect from the bride?) and again it was a good time to recall that fateful day in March, almost 9 months ago...once all was done in church, we crossed the road into the Palazzo Parisio and the fun began. Good food, good drink, good music, dancing, repeated carrying of the bride and groom on shoulders by different groups of friends (I thought this was to be done only once at the end, but I was clearly mistaken!) and lots of catching up. The final carrying on shoulders was done by "our" party, down the elaborate marble staircase, which was a tricky task, but all was done safely and surprisingly efficiently, given the levels of alcohol consumed by that time.

Once the newly weds headed off to their honeymoon suite, the rest of us headed off for a coffee and organised a Secret Santa for our annual Christmas dinner. Oh yes, by the way, in 4 days we head back to Malta and this trip will invariably be characterised by, not one, but many Christmas dinners!

This the season to be jolly

Very soon I will be flying home (for yet another wedding!) and soon after that trip there will be another trip during the Christmas recess. I know this is utterly profane and wrong, but Christmas immediately brings to mind vast amounts of food, copious volumes of alcohol and a gift here and there. The official opening ceremony of the Christmas season's festivities kicked off this week with an office dinner...

A few weeks ago, at the office, we came up with the idea of organising a Christmas dinner. As always, I immediately took over and was responsible for setting it all up. So one lazy afternoon, I drafted an email (which was well-organised in the form of a scientific paper), set up a Doodle website for the participants to vote as to which date they prefer and in a few days all was done. It was decided to have it midweek in early December in order to make sure that all are still around. And so we headed off for the #223 Christmas dinner on the 2nd day of December.

The venue I proposed and which was unanimously chosen was an Italian restaurant just off Oxford Street. The wine was good, the food excellent and the company great. After antipasto, main course and dessert, we headed off to Carnaby Street to a typical English pub where we downed a couple of pints, until we heard the obnoxious bell ringing at 11.30ish, which meant that we had to vacate the place. One of my mates suggested going to a blues bar, which was a wise decision, for the band playing live was nothing but superb. Extensive photographic evidence suggests that we all had a good time at the blues bar!

Once the gig was all done, it was "still" 1am, so we headed off to a place called "The Bar", in a small alleyway off Oxford Street. This is probably the weirdest place I have seen so far in London. A narrow staircase leads to a 40 square metre room at basement level with walls all covered by mirrors to give a false illusion of space. The crammed space was packed with people who seemed to be there from the 1960s: middle-aged, thin men with long hair and hippie T shirts, scantily clad women clearly having enjoyed the odd heroin shot earlier and normal people, like us. The music was surprisingly good and it was a good way to conclude the night. I was shocked to pay a visit to the loo and, while using the urinal, I heard shuffling and panting in the locked WC cubicle. Unbelievable.

At 3am, I decided it is best to head home and try to get some sleep. One bus ride later and a short walk from High Street Ken, I was at home and after one hot power shower, I was all assembled in bed, where I stayed till 10.30am the next day. Malta in less than 24 hours and Malta again in less than 2 weeks! What a good start to the festive season of 2010!