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03 FEB 08 IL KAMRA L HAMRA

February 10th, 2008

It has defied the passage of time; it has gone through storms and tempests, witnessed the falling of bombs in war and come out unscathed. It has seen ‘progress’ degenerating into regress, it has seen clean air becoming polluted. Standing at the edge of the cliff like a sentry guarding Ramla Bay for many decades is the ‘Il-Kamra l-Hamra’ (the Red Cottage) or ‘il-Kamra ta’ Masini’.

The first name it got from the original crimson colours decorating the outer walls, the second from its owner’s surname. It consists of just one room over an arched stable. The former was used by the late Canon Joseph Masini accompanied by friends and young people to spend summer days there. The donkey, the only means of transport in those days, spent the hot days in the shade of the stable and gained a day’s rest day before transporting one and all back to the village after sunset. Its only neighbour then was Calypso Cave.

To the visitor of this page, a resident of Xaghra under the age of fifty, or never lived there, the accompanying pictures only bring beautiful scenery. But for a senior citizen of Xaghra or an emigrant who left his/her hometown when this kamra or cottage stood gracefully at Ta’ Kaccaturi (Hunters’ place) in the countryside, in the suburb of Xaghra, they bring nostalgic memories of better times past.

The faded colour still bears witness to the the origin of its name. It still stands but for how long it can watch over Ramla Bay is anybody’s guess. The cliff face nearby is crumbling down and crevices running along the edge can be followed going right up the walls. Stone slabs from the roof have fallen down and the arches, resisting their fate and looking defiant, reveal the craftsmanship of the builder of the time. The place is doomed and the majestic landmark which stood there for many years may soon, unfortunately, disappear. And the Old Lady of Ta’ Kaccaturi will live only in memory and in pictures.

1 FEB 08 WINTER COLOURS AROUND XAGHRA

February 2nd, 2008

11 FEB 08 TASTE OF FREEZING TEMPERATURES

February 11th, 2008

The Maltese saying goes that ‘February overfills the wells’. In 2008 it not only filled the wells but covered parts of Gozo including Xaghra with a white blanket of frozen hail. It is not abnormal for hail to fall but for it to stay on hours on end is very rare and so it was on the morning of the eleventh day of the second month of the year. A freak hailstorm struck in the early hours on that morning and up to five hours later mounds of hail still lay against the side of the streets and in fields. The brown of the ploughed fields turned white and in some areas it was a couple of inches high; the rest had it hidden under their green carpet. In the early darkness the show was not all missed by the early risers but the freezing weather at the time was felt to full extent.