A Place in the Sun

Christmas is finally with us, and I have hardly had the time to think of the forthcoming holiday season. While I do not really practise the Christian Christmas, I find that it is an excellent time to get close to my family, and spend time with them, and also to get a much-needed break. These last three months have been very hectic. I've been appointed a judicial assistant, and I have also started lecturing Maritime English at the Maritime Institute of MCAST. This has increased my workload greatly - though very pleasantly indeed. I am also enjoying all my original work too, so that I have been kept busy. Gordon also got a larger boat, which has kept us busy with restoring it and repairing it, and putting her down in the water. She is finally down in the water, which means that I can get back to doing some of my work again. I have so much to do before Christmas - shopping, finishing some handmade gifts, and so on. So I'd better be off to start my things..... Speak very soon!

October has set in well, and with it come the clouds and rain. As I look out of the window, the sky is not very dark but the pane is wet - it has started to rain. It rained very hard this morning, and the clouds have been looming all day. With winter come lovely thoughts of Christmas, or cuddling up befoer the TV... for those fortunate of course to have loved ones with whom to share this warmth. Others less fortunate may be lonely, even if well provided for, and may sorely resent this sudden greyness. I think that while fortunate, I also suffer from winter blues. I tend to hit a low when the sun goes away, and although I love the cuddly sensations, I strongly resent the early sunset, the late sunrise (even if I never watch it) and the grey skies. Of course, I do love the DVD nights, or reading under my quilt, but boy, is it winter yet?

Yesterday and today morning I woke up to see less of the sun shining than usual. August is almost over, and as we are heading into September, a kind of melancholy hits me. I am enjoying summer greatly, and a hard winter awaits me - plenty of work (thankfully) which will keep me busy through the colder months. I've been working on my new website, The Ballet Shop , which is entirely new in concept, as well as The Ballet Shop Blog , which runs alongside it, and which I use to market the site. These have taken up quite some time during the summer, as I want them to look great and be user-friendly. I have also taken plenty of time to swim, which is my favourite form of exercise. I love being in the water, preferably the sea, though the jellyfish have not allowed me to be as comfortable as I used to be in the water beforehand. Nowadays I always have a pair of goggles at hand, to keep an eye on the water around me. I still managed to get nabbed twice by the nasty things, but this did not

Blissfully, the weather has turned warmer over the last couple of weeks, meaning that summer is right about here. Despite the jellyfish infestations, there are still days when it is all clear to swim - of course I shall be using goggles... I find the Maltese summer idyllic. Having a barbecue on a beach or - even better, a yacht - on some balmy evening tops it all. We are sometimes invited on friends yachts and, by the candlelight and the smell of citronella, dig into fresh salads and a little bit of fish (steak, mind! I cannot eat seafood for the life of me), and a cold glass of white wine .... delightful! Of course I love nothing better than the sea. We have not yet taken our boat down to the water as she still requires plenty of maintenance. However I am sure that we will do so soon - with a bit of effort and goodwill from all of us, I guess we'll get somewhere. Luckily for me, work slows down in summer so I can rest a little without appearing sloth. In Malta it is often too h

Today I received an invite to go sailing since the weather was so lovely and there was some wind. We did set off sailing but the wind dropped drastically, and so we went into St George's bay to have a coffee, and the skipper, Ray, wanted to have a swim. Much to my disappointment - though it was not suprise at all - there were swarms of jellyfish. The awful thing about it was that they were mating, and on the heads of some of them I could see the little white eggs, ready to be released. There were a variety of the common purple jellyfish and some brown ones, and some seemed to be a combination of both. The worst thing about it was that these had tentacles at least 1 metre long, and very very invisible if you're swimming close by. I'm sincerely hoping that this summer is not going to be ruined by these pests. They say that jellyfish are food for turtles, which are close to being extinct. Let's hope they feast on this excessive supply of these noisome creatures ... They

February was a party month at home. We had a party to celebrate the birthdays of two of our friends, Alex and Mandi, on Friday the 13th March. It was a blast and everyone had a great time. The following week we threw a carnival party. The rule was that every man had to dress as a woman, and the females could dress as they pleased. Some of our friends brought their friends too and we had a great night.

Winter here is proving to be rather cold. With trying to keep warm, I tend to crouch in my sleep, and this is giving me frequent neck and back pains. I hear that a lot of people are suffering from the same thing, so I am not surprised. Perhaps having to walk about in the cold does not help, but at least this means some exercise for me. I am finding it increasingly hard to get out of the house and run or exercise. Perhaps my circulation is sluggish in this cold. I cannot wait for summer to start again, and I can swim, go for boat rides, snorkel, and do all that I enjoy without feeling like I am going to freeze. Malta has a very mild climate, so the temperatures are not supremely cold. However it is an island and as such the atmosphere is very humid, which makes the cold feel like it is in your bones. Spring is luckily round the corner.... hopefully it will warm up soon!

The Christmas holidays are way over!! I went back to work on the 5th and it's been way busy. Of course certain things have been pending from last December but additional work has come in. It's only Thursday - or alread? - and I am already feeling really, really tired. I still feel as I did before - that I need to spend a few quiet days. We've had many great parties over Christmas, and lots and lots of friends around us so in a way I managed to get over my work stress. Now I just need to calm down ...