One of those days.

Ahh. Sun. Warmth. Lovely. It's hot on the balcony.

Those were the first words I heard today. They were almost expressed with a discernable whiff of enthusiasm.

I'd rather have heard words like fried, eggs, bacon, sausage, bread and would you like but I'm grateful that they were followed by the arrival of the first coffee.

Get up.
First proper non shopping day - merits a shower, this does.
Coffee.
Catch ferry to Valletta.

Interesting that last year my financier was first in the queue and we got charged full whack. Today I was leading the queue and it was assumed that we were old and only paid €0.90 instead of €1.80.
Strange, that.

Wander through the fortified walls and Hastings Gardens marvelling at the vistas as they unfold. I could mention the pigeons but one flew away as I tried to take it's photo. The other will never fly again.

A slight incline to dispose of before descending and ascending Mr.Piano's steps by the new parliament building, thence past the government palace and around to the stock exchange

The stock exchange is barely bigger than a decent garage but is most easily identified by the cars parked outside and the presence of suited and capped drivers milling about amid clouds of smoke. No Rolls's here, a few Maseratis, including a Merak 350, a classic Porsche 911 Targa, some paltry BMW's in black and a couple of nondescript blacked out Mercedes'.

It's in a lovely square but busy. Very busy. Today an ancient Land Rover was testing its' turning circle amid the fairly agile traffic and causing chaos. Those following it had obviously never driven a Land Rover or they would have known it would have to reverse at some points in its' roundabout circumnavigation and they wouldn't have followed so closely.

Around the corner to Upper Barrakka Gardens where one pauses. Too early for the midday gun but this is a place to pause, not just because it's the highest point in Valletta but one pauses to take in the view and spend a while contemplating those mentioned on some very understated memorials.

Down the elevator to the Birgu ferry where once again only €0.90 was asked. Once deposited in Birgu it was time to renew acquaintance with Café Brasil. No Lithuanian/Latvian/Estonian lady this year, an Italian only just started. She thought the world of VR46 so I overlooked her forgetting my egg on the burger with the chips, salad, olives and beer.

Thirst assuaged and hunger satiated ones focus was centred on the return trip.

Birgu, looking toward Valletta this afternoon.

It should be fairly obvious why. Fortunately the rain held off until we were the right side of the balcony doors.

Just as well we ate out as we spent most of last night washing up because once loaded the dishwasher seemed to take a while. After an indecent while my investigations led to the conclusion that when the right buttons were pressed in the right order the right lights came on in the right sequence. Alas, the lights were the only things that responded to the buttons. Once emptied the previous occupants attempts to use it had left a mush of dishwasher tablets in the bottom. Ours is still stuck in the tray.

The washing up was a bit tiresome but it was OK because the telly's still not working although I can get YouTube on it but France24 and Sky News International aren't really much to while away an evening. And typing in url's and search requests with an Android remote is a bit tedious.

However, an iPod, Sennheiser headphones and Robert Tombs' "That Sweet Enemy" are more than a match for anything I could manage to get on a smart telly's YouTube app.