Malta's decline in tourism

I was looking at a few articles on the Times of Malta website today, as I try to keep in touch with what is going on in Malta and about the general current affairs.

From what I read today, and yesterday, I think I can come up with a few reasons with regarding the decrease of tourists to Malta.

The most obvious reason seems to be the recession that most of Europe is going through. Everywhere I go, people seem to be struggling to make ends meets. Even here in the UK, I came across an article which says that families are eating food even after they're expired, as well as keeping left overs in the fridge for a longer time period. Needless to say, this is happening in several other countries, even in Malta.

This brings me to the next point, which is: foreigners cannot afford to travel as much as they used to, or their budget is less than it was a few years ago. Even though Malta, in comparison to other European countries is rather cheap to live in (food, accomodation, transport), the flights to Malta are alarmingly expensive. I think this is a disadvantage which cannot be overlooked. Furthermore, since to my knowledge shops do not need to have items tagged with a price by law, some shop owners tend to take advantage of tourists. This is due to the fact that tourists would not know how much they are expected to pay for a bottle of water for instance. I have seen this happening with my own eyes, and in the past it also happened to me, even though I am local.

In a way, I am glad that less tourists are visiting Malta, because most of Malta is going through roadworks. Too many main-roads are closed down because  of this, and traffic is alarmingly worse. It is bad enough when there are no road works! I think roadworks are very repulsive, and closing down such roads during summer, which in Malta is the highest tourist peak is more or less insane. Having said that, I would also like to mention that such work on the roads creates an increase in probability when it comes to trafffic accidents. Traffic accidents involving tourists will only give Malta a bad name.

Having said all the above, I still think that Malta is a great holiday destination, especially during summer time, when the weather is pefect for the beach, when nightlife is at its best... And who can forget those marvellous historical places and the delicious food?

All Seasons in 1 Month

When living in England, one of the advantages is to live on island, yet you wouldn't endure the heat the summer brings. But it is also a known fact, that weather in the UK is very much depressing for any Mediterranean peeps living there, due to clouds and rain during the majority of the year.

This is true.

I would say that I enjoy the fact that I don't sweat like a pig 24/7 for four recurring months, but at times - not seeing the sun for weeks makes me want to go hysterical. It is not the heat that I miss, it is the opportunity of wearing summer clothes, sandals, and not carrying a jacket wherever I go.

Since the first of June, until today the 25th of June, I could say that here in Stoke we had weather from all seasons. It started off really cold with drizzle, freezing nights with temperature just above 0 degrees and hail during the days, and for the past 5 days, a heatwave with temperature of 20 to 25 degrees during the day. Last night the temperature at 1am was at 18 degrees, with no sign of breeze.  It was pretty much pointless leaving my bedroom window fully open all night. But, no mosquitos - yay! It was so warm, that I thanked my lucky stars that I do not share my house with anyone else and I could run about wearing (or not wearing!) anything I want.

Though I am complaining about the heat, I must admit that it is a lovely change to see a constantly blue sky, and wearing summer dresses. As such, I'm planning on taking advantage of the situation and visit a park this weekend :)

So, fingers crossed on this... and prepare yourselves for some blog posts with photos... Not just from this weekend, but also London and Holland.

Steffi xxx

Monty Python's Spamalot 2012 - Review

Spamalot : UK Tour 2011/12

Promo:

 

Monty Python’s Spamalot is the story evolving around King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Eric Idle, the creator of Monty Python wanted to give a comic twist to the British history. At the start of the show, we meet King Arthur doing his best (and mostly failing) at recruiting his knights. I mean, King Arthur was made a king by receiving a sword called Excalibur, by a Lady in the Lake. And what’s more? His horse is invisible, however Patsy – his faithful servant creates the sound effects of horse’ hooves with two halves of coconuts.

One way or another, King Arthur manages to recruit enough knights and through a divine intervention from God they started off their first quest – that of seeking the Holy Grail. This leads the actors through various ridiculous settings and random challenges. My favourite would be when the team encounters the French taunters. Typical of the French, they do not pursue a good grip of the English language, and thus end up abusing the King verbally. A few quotes….

"You don't frighten us, English pig dogs. Go and boil your bottoms, you sons of a silly persons. I blow my nose at you, so-called "Arthur King," you and all your silly English K-nig-hts."

"Your Mother was a hamster and your father smells of elderberries!"

"I don't want to talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wiper. I fart in your general direction."

Another scene was the challenge of finding a shrubbery to avoid the wrath of the ‘Knights who say Ni’. By the time King Arthur finds the shrubbery, who was going to be thrown away by an elderly lady because of her cat pissing in it, the ‘Knights who say Ni’, became known as the Knights who say ‘ekki-ekki-ekki-ekki-ptang zoom-boing z'nourrwringmm’ or something of that sort.

The Stage. Regent Theater is a strict theater and I
could not take any photos during the show.

Other LOL factors would include Lancelot rescuing Prince Herbert and turning gay, the courageous Black Knight who still wants to fight King Arthur despite having his arms cut off (and ends up impaled on a doorway) and the cute white rabbit who turns psycho.

Might I add that Spamalot includs a number of songs which were hilarious and full of puns, such as the Fish-Slapping song, Not Yet Dead, All for One and obviously Bright Side of Life.

Over all this show has exceeded my expectation. I was giggling throughout, and I managed to sing a couple of songs too. I wouldn’t mind watching this again if I had the opportunity, and I would suggest all Monty Python fans to buy tickets to this show. It is worth every penny!

I shall leave you with a couple of videos from the show. These are however not ones of the current tour. Enjoy!

Bright Side of Life

 

All for One 

Not Dead Yet

Snow here, there and everywhere!

After much wait and anticipation for me and all those who LOVE snow, and after much wait and dreadfulness for those who despise it, last weekend was a snowy weekend here in Stoke.

Mostly due to the excitement of seeing snow again since last December, I found it hard to sleep on the Friday night. It was forecasted to start snowing at noon on Saturday, so the plan was to finish off the errands beforehand and then go somewhere nice and cosy to enjoy the view of snow. Needless to say, my plan fell apart, and when it started snowing at 12:03pm, I was in Knutton waiting for a bus. Freezing my ass off, was the least of my problems though as I was pretty much enchanted with looking at the hail, which soon enough turned into snow. What a beautiful view!

The snow kept going through the afternoon, evening and night. At some point I went for a walk close by to home. By the time I got home I was full of snow. Some photos of my night brief adventure can be found here:

Furthermore, on the Sunday when it stopped snowing, I went to a park close by and took some photos. It was a misty day, and a cold one too. The lake was frozen, the sky white... the photos I took looked haunted, and I probably fell more in love with snow...

I don't know if it is just me... but I find snow to be calming; for that moment in time, I forget all my troubles and I'm stress-free.

Note: All the photos in this article belong to me, and were taken in Porthill. Please get permission should you require to use any of them.