I Welcome Ye Yankees With Open Arms

Writing in the airport after a great day's exploring in Malta. Viva la vida by Coldplay is playing over the speakers and taking me back to when I was angsty and watched Hollyoaks. Still, it's a cracking tune, and there's a brilliant 4-part TTBB choral version online which is even better, by a group whose name I forget.

The day started with breakfast on the roof - pancakes and buckets of tea on the sizzking roof. Yes, that should read sizzling, but I enjoyed the typo. It is much, much nicer than England here, a point I cannot emphasize enough, mainly because it will make any of my friends reading this deeply jealous. They can comfort themselves with the fact that I am returning back to the great enchanted isle of unimaginative cloud coverage and desparately optimistic weather forecasters.

Speaking of which. I am thinking of actually putting this blog on my facebook wall regularly, or at least on twitter. So far I have only told a few friends about it, though I have recieved at least one reader from the United State, for whom I written a special message (see below). One assumes that the 4,063 views from Malta are in fact me, though I have connected with the locals on a profound and emotional level, and so it is possible that they have simply guessed that I write a blog and found it for themselves. Part of the problem, I think, is that I want to make sure that I am honest and as honestly 'me' in this blog as is possible, and if you know you have an audience then I'm sure in all sorts of subtle ways that affects how you write. Nevertheless, the friends I've shown this to have made enthusiastic noises, and I guess that's why you write a blog and not a diary, so I think I am going to share this a bit.

It is fair to say that I am having fun
To my yankee friend(s): HOWDY PARTNER. I HOPE YOU FIND THIS MESSAGE READABLE AND CLEAR. I AM GOSH-DARNERED P-R-I-VILIGED TO HAVE Y'ALL READING. GOOD FOR Y'ALL. I'M FROM ACROSS THE POND BUT I'M A YANKEE HISTORY NERD AND GOLLY GEE DO I LAAK MUSICAL THEATAR. Y'ALLS WELCOME TO KEEP READING. I LAAK YOUR CULTURE AAND YOUR COCA-COLA POPCORN.

Anyway, back to Malta. Again, a busy day, aided by the fact that the centre of Valletta is one of the densest world heritage sites on the globe. Cathedral - tick; gardens - tick; pizza - tick. Falcon? Some possible sightings, but I failed to catch my own specimen. I shall have to return at some point in the future.

Possible Falcon Sighting
Now I am in the airport ready to heasback home. Three hours means lots more book reading time. I keep forgetting to explain the blog title, but I will in the next entry I think.

RJLF

GOODBYE LOVELY MALTA!! :'(

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