Receding Beauty

Summer is drawing to an end, at least Maltese summer for expats returning back to their host country. We have merrily waded through the folkoristic festas, the balmy seaside dinners, the refreshing swims, the summer parties, and that general Mediterranean melancholia. As we prepare to return to our grey urban homes, we cannot help but sense that Malta's idyllic beauty is receding. The more I drove around the island, the more I noticed bare concrete, ugly roads scorching under the merciless sun. This gnaws at my patriotic sentiments, as it confirms that, were I ever to be persuaded to return, I would have to live with such insensitivity to nature and true beauty and be faced with bad taste and brutality on a daily basis.

For now I will make the most of Malta as a lovely summer place. Savour the abundant sunshine, the easy lifestyle and the charming beauty. I do not know if I can ever return to the society I left behind. Not for now, at any rate.