om livet på en ö i Medelhavet
Posts by Emma
Visited by a grasshopper
06008 days
by Emma
in Living in Malta
The grasshopper liked our lemon tree
The wall in the study is still wet and moldy
06008 days
by Emma
in Living in Malta
Still problem with the moisture-damaged wall
Kalle cleaned the moldy wall a few weeks ago and we used the gas heater to dry the wall for a couple of days. The wall felt dry, but the mold came back. So Kalle cleaned the wall again this weekend and we will make another try to dry the wall with the electric heater.
Our landlord told me that the neighbours have fixed the leak, but they also still have mold on their side of the wall and that they think there is another leak somewhere.
New slippers
06008 days
by Emma
in Living in Malta
My new slippers
I’ve been looking for slippers to wear at home for quite some time now. I didn’t want slippers with covered toes, ’cause then I feel to warm after a while. 99% of all cheap shoes they sell at the souvernir/stationary shops are flip-flops or similar, with a toe-thing… I like flip-flops but it’s impossible to wear both flip-flops and socks…
I found these slippers at the same place where I bought the ball for Gizmo’s birthday a month ago.
The stone floors are very cold now. And we use the heaters frequently. We had 17°c in the study this morning.
Only in Malta?
26011 days
In my category “Only in Malta” I’m documenting odd stuff that will probably only occur here in Malta. Just as the web site Only in Malta does (yes, I borrowed the idea).
A lot of strange things does happen here and I can only imagine all things that people do that doesn’t get documented…
Here are some highlights from Only in Malta:
However. The Maltese people might do alot of crazy stuff, but in the end the first (worst) prize goes to SWEDEN! Kalle showed mw this article today. It’s like a bad joke.
Drilled for geothermal heat – hit subway train
Drilling Accident at Södermalm in Stockholm seems all the more remarkable. The work was done after the current plans, “said police investigators told TT.
Police technicians examined on Friday, the site of the failed drilling while began to hear the staff of the drilling company and check the drawings for the building.“We can confirm that the company had permits to drill and to drill for the drawings. We have so far been found that the firm did nothing wrong, but somewhere, there was still a mistake. The further investigation may show where this was done,” says Gunilla Borgehed.
The company would drill in the last two hundred meters deep hole on a plot at Wollmar Yxkullsgatan in Södermalm. When they came about 20 meters down through the mountain the staff discovered that the drill is no longer met any resistance in the rock.
The staff tried to pull up the drill, which was hanging freely in the tunnel between Mariatorget and Slussens underground stations, but did not get it up until a subway-train collided with it.
The drill hit the train’s roof and front windscreen had extensive crushing.
“The driver was shocked but it could have gone really bad. He and the train was immediately on hand, and traffic was halted for about an hour,” said Maria Adolfsson at SL’s press service.
Stoppage caused major disruption and delays on the subway red line for several hours.
Dinner at The Arches in Mellieha
06011 days
by Emma
in Living in Malta
Roses, candles, chocholate and my darling as company - couldn't ask for more!
Last time we met with our estate agent, he told us about a really nice restaurant in Mellieha, The Arches. So we decided to check it out tonight. It was a little blit more fancy than we thought, with dress code and high prizes. But we were allowed inside even though we weren’t dressed up. 
We decided to go for the set menu. The food was really good and the service excellent!
This is beyond bad news…
16012 days
by Emma
in Living in Malta
I guess you all know about the plastic problems in the ocean… This really scares me. What have we done to our world? Can we save our world?
…it would require every man, woman and child on earth, 6.6 billion… During their lifetime - to cleanup the ocean – they would have to be in charge for 100 000 pickup truck loads of ocean…
When you think of all the plastic bottles, boxes, containers, wrapping… that we use once and then throw away… what a waste of resources!
Plastic packaging is usually made from oil. For each pound of plastic that is recycled it saves us one liter of oil and two kilograms of carbon dioxide. In Sweden, we use 155 000 tonnes of plastic packaging each year, approximately 17 kilograms per person. It takes 450 years before a plastic bottle ended up in nature has been broken down. By leaving it to the recycling can instead become a new bottle, a dish brush or a fence.
L´anza vs. my tangled hair
06013 days
by Emma
in Living in Malta
My favourite hair styling products!
I’ve had some big problems with my tangled hair the last few months. Usually a hair cut solves the problem, but not this time. It takes me 10, sometimes 15 minutes to comb through the hair after a shower, and it looks like half my hair ends up on the comb every time.
Before I moved here I bought some shampoo from my hairdresser and my hair has never looked or felt that good. So now I ordered some bottles from a Swedish web site (www.lyko.se) and they arrived a few days ago.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed and hope this will work!
18°C feels varm outside but a little chilly inside
06013 days
Even Gizmo is feeling cold and likes to sleep under a cozy blanket sometimes
It's nice to have the heater running
The temperature inside is about the same as outside. There are no or very little isolation in the walls. Last winter when it was 14-15°C outside, we had the same temperature inside. That feels coooold when you’ve had a shower or get out of bed in the morning!
It’s already started to be a little chilly inside, so now we have the gas heater in the livingroom and the electric heater in the study when we sit by the computer.
Christmas cards are on the way
06013 days
by Emma
in Living in Malta
This morning I went to The bright spot (a small shop just around the block that sells about everything but food) to buy stamps for my Christmas cards. I bought amost all their stock of Europe stamps (sorry). The stamps are cheap here compared to Sweden. It is cheaper to send letters to Japan or USA from Malta than to send letters within Sweden!
This is an overview for normal letter, max weight 20g in Sweden/50g in Malta.
Local mail
Malta €0.19 (approx. 2.00 SEK)
Sweden 6.00 SEK (approx. €0.56)
Within Europe
Malta €0.37 (approx. 4.00 SEK)
Sweden 12.00 SEK (approx. €1.12)
Outside Europe
Malta €0.51 (approx. 5.50 SEK)
Sweden 12.00 SEK (approx. €1.12)
I must say that it felt very wierd to post the Christmas cards wearing t-shirt, in 18°C!
Just a pile of soft gingerbread pieces left
26016 days
Two walls down...
It didn’t take long for the rest of my tower to collapse. Half an hour ago Kalle shouted from the kitchen that two walls were down and while I was downloading the photos to the computer he shouted again that all walls had fell.
Just a pile of gingerbread pieces left
All walls down...