Saturday, March 31, 2007

Eavesdropping.

On one of our evenings out in Gozo Gill and I visited a restaurant just outside of Victoria called "La Stanza". A fairly new family run restaurant on Gozo, I think it opened last year, it had been recommended to us so we gave it a try.
La Stanza's menu ranges from traditional local dishes to a more adventurous cuisine. Fresh fish and seafood are available as well as a rotating list of specialities including vegetarian. We had an outstanding meal and with friendly staff, and a good wine list comes highly recommended by me.

The chosen wine of the evening Yalumba Barossa Bush Vine Grenache 2002 with aromas of blueberries, dark fruits, sticky plum jams and spicy clove on the nose. The palate is velvety and sumptuous, sweet prunes and gamey-earthy characters. A rich and concentrated wine, supported with fine tannins that finish with hints of black pepper.

We finished with coffee in the bar, and that is where the eavesdropping comes in, whilst in the bar I could not help overhearing an elderly British couple having a conversation with one of the locals, (well they were rather loud), I found out later that they are resident on Gozo, they were talking about the ridiculous opening ours that the shops keep on Malta and Gozo, exclaiming that in the UK the Asian corner shop culture that came about in the 70's and 80's has led to us here in the UK having many shops open 24 hours a day, he seemed to be suggesting that the same should happen on Gozo.
I just could not help thinking, well if you want a British lifestyle and don't like the cultural differences here on the Maltese islands why do you live here? Return to the UK. The one reason I visit these islands so often is because I find the cultural differences so refreshing, I live here in my community just North of London, 24 hours shops, 24 hour entertainment every one going to and from somewhere at 100mph, no time to relax every waking minute of the day has to be filled with one task or another it is the culture, it's how we do it in the UK so please lets leave it here in the UK, it's bloody hard work and I have had enough of it, please give me a slower pace of life. Now where might I find that........I know, on the Maltese Islands.

"He who cherishes the values of culture cannot fail to be a pacifist".
Albert Einstein

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