Summer without electricity

In the summer of 1956, my father purchased a house for our family on Islet Promenade at Buġibba. During our first summer there, we had no electricity because it hadn’t been yet installed at Buġibba. 

We weren’t happy about it but we took it in stride. 

I don’t remember any excessive heatwave in the summer of 1956, nor do I recall any sleepless nights due to excessive heat. 

Since there was no electricity, we had no fans to cool us off, and air conditioners were non-existent in Malta at that time.

Without electricity, we couldn’t listen to Rediffusion, Malta’s public radio broadcaster. Television had not yet arrived in Malta.

When night fell, the residents of Buġibba lit up a lantern and sat chatting outside their front door. At 11pm, it was the customary time to retire for the night. In 1956, Buġibba was a quiet summer resort with no tourist industry and no commercial activity. It was exclusively residential. 

Beyond this small residential enclave, the neighbourhood which is nowadays all built up with shabby flats consisted, back then, of fields and open countryside. The population was small, and garbage collection was not a problem.

There were no hotels, bars and restaurants. Vehicular traffic was very light, especially at night.

There were no retail shops, except for a small grocery at the corner of Bognor Beach and Islet Promenade. For everything else, one had to go to St Paul’s Bay. This is what vileġġjatura seems to have meant in those days: having to do without all the conveniences. 

Despite the lack of electricity, entertainment and conveniences, those of us who had a summer residence in Buġibba considered themselves lucky. 

John Guillaumier – St Julian’s

Capers 

Photo: Jonathan Borg

Have any of my kindred readers noticed the profusion of new, healthy wild growth of caper bushes in our ever diminishing countryside?

It is wonderful to notice nature surviving, and indeed thriving, in spite of all the damage that we are inflicting on it.

Joseph Caruana – Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq

Persisting issues

It seems that the blind and deaf syndrome regarding law and order  is persisting and it is now an every day occurrence; yes  this is Mickey Mouse country.

Not only, but our country has become a shameless Mickey Mouse country!

Joseph Scicluna – St Julian’s