h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Thanks! I thoroughly enjoyed reading your article and it brought memories flooding back of some wonderful holidays. My husband took his PADI Advanced Open Water scuba diving course in Malta whilst we were on our honeymoon and also introduced me to snorkelling.

Your comments about Maltese driving and the busses are so true! On our arrival, my hubby wanted to know which side of the road the Maltese drove on. Naturally, I couldn't resist winding him up and just said "The shady side!" which, by the end of the holiday, he was convinced of. We'll never forget the gleeful expression on our regular local bus driver's face as he used to speed round bends! The paler his passengers became, the broader his grin was!!! By the end of the holiday, we were quite used to him, but it was fun watching new holiday makers getting their first "white knuckle ride"!

Yeah dead funny. I've been going back with my Maltese wife often and the last time, after we agreed that the driving had got worse (Too many cars, too much MPH), I left the car at home and took the bus to Birkikara to visit her friend - as you know how busy it is there. Anyway, the bus crashed into a Maltese lady he was racing. Fortunately we were able to get out and walk the rest of the way. There was a couple of fatals in the two weeks we were there, I'm not even happy crossing the roads on foot now. All is not right in paradise.

YES malta is a very nice place.
i went on holiday to malta a few weeks ago.
we went to st julians, and went to the blue lagoon and had a walk round the sunday market in valletta.
i want to again soon.

Glad you liked it, Actually, I'm going back on the 23rd. of this month. That's in 20 days and 3 1/4 hours time.

not long till you go back to malta?
i might go near the end of the year, or if not then next year.
the buses mad me laugh, i was told about them, but did not belive it.
the buses are very cheap, we went from st julians to valletta, and it was only 15c each.
hope you have a good time.

Yes please do say a big hello to Malta from me and have a wonderful time!

OK guys, I'll wave to you too, from the kite this evening. Farewell cloudy skies and bye, green fields. Soon the sound of willow on leather and polite applause will be replaced by the click of the bocchi balls and raucous guttural commentry. Oh yeah, bocchi (pronounce botch-ee, I can't do the dots above the c's). That is a Maltese version of bowls which sadly seems to be going out of fashion. The most interesting variation to our game seems to be wooden bricks (at least I assume they're wooden) which can be used for blocking/ smashing the hell out of an opponents ball. Now, I've never played this bizarre sport but let's see if I can come back with something on this to share with you humans. The locations for the game can be weird too, e.g. on the traffic roundabout at Msida.

Hi for your information, bocchi is actually spelt bocci, (with dots on the c's) but considering that you are not Maltese you are doing pretty well! A true Englishman would have spelt it bottchi

I'm always so suprised by people's response when I say that I'm from Malta (not technically, you understand, but my Mum is Maltese and I lived there for nearly 8 years). Never having liked living there myself I can't see what it is that everyone likes about it so much. I stand by my theory that Malta is like Marmite, you either love it or hate it. That's not to say I don't keep going back though, I'm always up for a cheap holiday and not having to pay for a hotel is always a bonus. As is the wonderful weather!!! (30 degrees at the moment!!)

I know that this is kind of a late reply, but since you wrote, we have have had 2 floods and it's raining outside!