A royal wedding

Earlier today, I was one of the 2 billion or so worldwide who followed the royal wedding between William and Kate (now known as Catherine), now both known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. The last royal wedding was that between his parents, Charles and Diana, and, although everyone on the planet knows of that ill-fated wedding, I was not "involved" since I was not born yet. This time round, not only was I born but I was actually in London at the time of the wedding.

The engagement came around last November as far as I remember and since then all of London burst into the sale of 1001 items related to the royal couple: cards, mugs, plates, T shirts, masks, flags and, erm, condoms. It is unbelievable how much people try to make money out of, literally, everything. Probably people made £1000s by betting on how the weather will be; after 2 or 3 weeks of sun, there were predictions of light showers on the day (these failed to appear, much to the relief of the organisers!)

The day of the wedding was declared a bank holiday, quite convenient after the Monday bank holiday after Easter and the bank holiday next Monday. Initially, I was very tempted to go to the heart of the event around Westminster Abbey and/or Buckingham Palace, but I soon changed my mind. Thankfully. Around 1,000,000 people crowded the streets where the procession took place on the day and another 300,000 flooded Hyde Park to watch the event on big screens. I hate crowds! Two London New Year's Eves were sufficient and this time I preferred to watch the do on TV, like the other 2,000,000,000 worldwide. The only bit I could hear live were the planes passing over Buckingham Palace when the couple came out in the balcony; it would have been impossible not to hear that magnificent roaring sound!

What was impressive during the whole thing was the sheer precision of the whole affair. With impeccable British timing, all maneuvers were spot on, with carriages and cars and all departing and arriving exactly as planned, following a schedule depicting ridiculous times such as 10:51 for the departure of the car of so-and-so and the arrival of the same at 10:57. The whole escort and later the horse-drawn drive was an example of British pageantry at its best. These people really love all the pomp and ceremony! I doubt that there will ever be a time when the monarchy will cease to exist.

It was also remarkable how traditional and contemporary schools of thought merged: the new Duchess herself is not of royal blood, her dress not of the 8m length Diana had wore but a mere 2m, the less important guests escorted in mini vans and the Abbey was decorated with trees, transforming it into a forest-like venue and Kate did not vow to obey the future monarch and so on. Simplicity and sophistication, the royal and the ordinary, the magical and the practical.

Although I have no ardent personal affection for the royalists and the British royal family, I sincerely trust that the new couple may find happiness in their new life and the pressures which the Prince's mother succumbed to may be a thing of the past.

I may not have been there but, nonetheless, in some 30 odd years, when another royal wedding takes place, I would be glad to say that I was in London on the previous royal wedding, on the day when King William and Queen Catherine got married, on 29th April 2011.

Holy week et al.

The sunshine in London persisted and at some point the temperature here exceeded that at Malta; we had 25 and even 27 degrees in the first few days of the Holy Week 2011. I was more excited about a set of forthcoming activities rather than having to bear with the high temperatures in the office and sometimes the incomprehensible occasional resort to switching on heaters by some of my fellow co-workers. Let's not get started on that...

Last Friday was the last day when most of us in #223 were still in London and thus we all decided to head off for a decent lunch off Oxford Street in one of the best revelations of early 2011: a steak house. The food there was great: medium steak with fresh frittes, preceded by a fresh salad and the main served in 2 equal helpings to keep the meat warm. It was a very lazy afternoon (Friday fever at its best) and followed by an equally lazy weekend before my Easter break. The Sunday was particularly sunny and beautiful and I ventured to take a few snaps of the latest Rogers building in Knightsbridge. What a privilege to be living in the playground of the great architects of the 21st century!

The Monday was characterised by a 2 hour long lunch break in Hyde Park, enjoying the sunshine and with occasional freshening "dips" in the Diana fountain. If only London is as sunny all year long! Tuesday was then my last proper working day for April and on Wednesday I only turned up at the office briefly to clear a minor pending job, clean up my desk and switch off the PC to avoid any temptation of working remotely from home. Come Wednesday night and I met up with one of my Maltese mates who came down to London for the evening to join me for a concert in the Royal Albert Hall: a Pink Floyd tribute concert.

Anyone who knows me will be aware of my PF obsession. I will not diverge from the proper content of this post, but I still think PF are one of the greatest bands ever. Although I had been to a concert of Roger Waters, the Brit Floyd concert sounded too good to miss, especially since the band is voted as the best tribute band so far. The venue was great as always and from the opening Shine on you crazy diamond right down to the closing Run like hell, the concert was simply amazing. The music and the projections were impeccable and the 3 hour long gig was worth every penny. Back home, my mate and I had a quick nap from 1am to 2am, when I had to get up and commence my long journey home (he eventually left at 4am to get the 6am train back to Nottingham).

I operated on auto-pilot as I got the 74 bus to Marble Arch and then 757 coach to Luton (I slept throughout all of the latter journey and thankfully the airport was the last stop; if it was not, I would have kept going on and on!) The flight was on time and after a quick breakfast and coffee in the terminal, I found myself a good seat on the good old Ryanair plane and slept from 6.30am after departure right till we were flying over Sicily. And 30 minutes later, we landed in Malta, my first trip since December.

I was surprised to find that the island greeted me with a grey cloudy sky, but I reckoned this was the usual "Good Friday" weather (alas, the bad weather persisted with consistence throughout all of my stay while London was venturing in the high 20s!) Once home, I started my marathon of good home meals. Easter has always been my favourite time of the year, on many levels: culturally, spiritually and gastronomically.

Thursday night was characterised by the usual Maundy Thursday ceremony in church and Friday morning we went up to Mdina and Rabat to visit the churches there (a first for me) and do the traditional Maltese visti. Lunch was invariably devoid of meat, but was replaced by one of my favourite foods: rikotta pie, cooked to perfection by mum. Friday afternoon and evening was then a visit to Valletta and its procession, another first. I also took a picture with the well-loved personality Il-pampalun and met also an ex-teacher and ex-classmate from secondary school! I did not fail to get a decent supply of karamelli tal-harrub, which I look forward to every year!

As much as I love London and its eccentricity and vibrant life, I still think our own capital is a gem and I am so thrilled simply to walk throughout the straight longitudinal streets, up and down the stepped side streets and admiring all of their Baroque splendour. I found that much of the capital is really being revived, with the new Palace Square, the restored National Library, the works on the Palace and Castille and numerous pavings works everywhere. Besides the City Gate/Opera House project. I cannot wait to see the city in 5-10 years' time...

Saturday was generally relaxed and in the evening headed off to an Irish pub in St Julian's for a surprise birthday do and a gathering with my friends. Good fun. Easter Sunday was then another day of eating and food, this time at the in-laws' and then at home in the evening. The unusual event on the Sunday was the 7 tremors felt over Malta, with the largest at M4.1 felt at 3pm. Personally, I felt nothing...

On Monday, I headed to Valletta again with dad, with hopes of seeing some sun and taking some good pictures, but had to endure nothing but humid, foggy and cloudy conditions. Albeit the uncooperative weather, I enjoyed the trip very much and my thoughts were a re-iteration of those on Friday. Finally, on Monday evening, we headed off to Mgarr and had a massive celebration of Maltese food: snails to start off and then a mix of rabbit, horse and quail. And Kinnie. And wine. Good fun, again!

On Tuesday morning, we made our way to the airport and, in grey and foggy weather, took off to land back in London, welcomed by the sun. It was indeed a very short break and did not enjoy a single hour of Mediterranean sun in 5 days but I swear I will go back in summer for 2 weeks and not return back to London until I am fully tanned!

Summer!

I think that the world has really gone crazy! It has been 18-21 degrees all week in London and blue cloudless skies from sunrise to sunset. Which makes it much tempting to leave the damn office and head off to Hyde Park and chill (well, sunbath really). This morning I woke up (late, as I do on most Saturdays) and after a good session on the piano and a quick lunch, headed off to the City and River Walk with a colleague till the late afternoon. I think I got back with a tan!

The biggest shame was that as soon as I took out my camera to capture a few London shots sporting (rare) sunlight scenes and blue sky backgrounds, I found out that the batteries are dead. And soon after my phone battery was on the verge of death, too. Not amusing at all, especially considering that the Shard has grown by a good handful (or two?) of new floors since I last saw it 2 weeks ago and it is always good to have photographic records of the construction of such landmarks.

And once by the Globe, I got tickets to watch Hamlet in the very theatre of Shakespeare, but not until July. It is embarrassing that after 3 years in London I have not been to the Globe yet, but this is will soon be another thing off the list!

Although I am generally very optimistic, I am more than sure that this blissful summery weather will not last that long and thus I want to exploit it to the full and intend to head out tomorrow...again!

An excursion to Bath and Cardiff

I am not sure if I had mentioned it earlier, but I am back on my own, sadly enough. No, no, I am not a prototype of the highly-debated new divorce legislation back in Malta, but the wife headed back to the sunny rock since the term is over and there is not much point staying alone for most of the day while studying for the upcoming exams. Thus, I needed to devise new ways to keep myself entertained. Last weekend's trip to Bath and Cardiff was the first such event...

On the Friday evening, I took the train to Bath and landed there at around 10pm, where I met my good Maltese friend waiting for me. How lovely the city is! This was my fourth visit to the ancient Roman settlement but I am nonetheless enchanted each time I pass by the Avon, the Pulteney Bridge and the Abbey. This was my first time to see the city lit at night and the view was fantastic.

Once at his abode, I got rid of my belongings and headed off to the union on campus with a bottle of his favourite wine and over 1,000 words or more emptied it in no time. The temperature was comfortable, the setting peaceful (all the undergrads were gone) and it was good to catch up with a friend outside Skype/MSN/Facebook/email. At around 12 we decided to head back and get some sleep for a long day awaited us. We did not sleep until well after 1 due to more and more talking, ranging from work, buildings, music, Malta, people, divorce, food and (did I mention it?) buildings.

The damn alarm rang at 7am and miraculously we got up and one coffee and only a few essential words later we headed down to the station and got the 8.30am train to Cardiff. It was my first time to Wales and I was looking forward for the day trip. By the way, the idea was this: my team Inter was playing against his team Milan on the Sunday and being the hottest game of the season, we decided to go to Cardiff on Saturday and then watch the game on Sunday. Luckily (or otherwise!) Inter qualified for the Champions League quarter finals and the Inter-Milan game was re-scheduled for Saturday, which meant we were going to miss it! This did not take away any of the excitement for our visit to Cardiff and we still managed to get a sneak of the game at a Welsh pub there and we were kept up to date with SMS texts from our friends. I am postponing this last detail not to re-open any wounds, but sadly "we" lost 3-0. Embarrassing. Anyway.

Once at Cardiff, we started roaming around the city centre. The weather was rubbish at first, but in the next half an hour it cleared up and was sunny and very pleasant throughout the rest of the day. We strolled about and headed to the Cardiff Castle, which kept us entertained till lunchtime. It was a fine example of motte and bailey medieval architecture and it was very well preserved and documented. By 1.00pm we were starving and headed off to the first pub and had a decent pub lunch which kept us going till the evening. After lunch we slowly headed down to the Cardiff Bay area and its former docks which were modernised and now boast some fine examples of contemporary architecture, much to our liking. A pit stop at the Starbucks there fuelled us with much needed caffeine and we strolled for a few hours in the area, taking some 300 pictures and, needless to say, the omnipresent Maltese talk on 101 topics. Dinner was at a Chinese buffet place which we spotted and immediately grabbed our attention. It was not bad but had better, though it did fill me up till lunchtime the next day...

We got the 8.30pm train to Bath and landed back home at 10pm. We watched the dreadful game highlights and a shower and change of clothes later went back to the Bath centre and to a local club. This venue and its antics kept us entertained till 2am or so, by which time it was time to retire.

No alarms were set and we got up at 11am or so and off to the city centre, beautiful Georgian Bath. By now, hunger was becoming an urgent matter and given the considerable munchies, we unanimously decided to go to another Chinese buffet place. This was way better than the Welsh equivalent and we stayed there for 2 hours or more, eating, pausing, talking, drinking and many cycles thereof. I did not eat till lunchtime the next day and to make up for the enormous intake of food, I seriously considered to fast in a Ramadan fashion (this did not work out).

Back home, I packed my few belongings and headed back down to the centre and after a few more roaming around, I was on the 9pm train to Paddington. I got home considerably tired and after a decent power shower and one final glass of wine to round up the weekend, I slept till 9.30am.

What a good start for April! And this was no April fool.