Mike woke with a start, his mum was calling him, "come on Michael, it's 05-30, time to get ready for school." Mike was up and out of bed in a flash, and within moments was in the bathroom. Having had a wash, and done what you do in a bathroom, he walked back to his bedroom where his mother had laid out his clean clothes for school. Dressed in khaki shirt and shorts and brown sandals Mike went into the lounge where he sat at the table to eat his breakfast. His father was already finishing off toast and marmalade, he looked up at his son, "sleep well," he asked, "not too bad," Mike said, "good," his dad said, "have some corn flakes," Mike went to grab a bowl, but his mother came in from the kitchen with a plate of scrambled eggs on toast which she put in front of him. Mike ate the food, he loved eggs, mother called from the kitchen, "Michael, would you like toast and marmalade," "yes please," Mike answered, "two slices," then mum was calling down the passage, "Kelvin, come on son you'll be late for school." They then heard movement outside Kelvin's bedroom, he ambled into the lounge and plonked himself down in a seat and grabbed a bowl, he didn't want eggs, mum bought in Mike's toast and poured herself a cup of tea.
Mike finished his breakfast, and carrying his coffee cup out onto the balcony, he stood in the morning sunshine, it was a beautiful day, the sky was blue and the sun shimmering on the water in the creek, his dad joined him with the remains of his own coffee, he patted Mike's head, "don't forget to comb your hair before you leave son," then finishing off his drink he made his way back into the flat, "see you later in the day, bye". Mike went to the bathroom and combed his hair, it was nearly 06-30, he said goodbye to his mum who came to the door to check him over, then a kiss on the cheek and he was out the door and down the stairs.
Mike crossed the road to wait for the bus, as he waited he was joined by other youngsters, some his age, some younger. The bus arrived just after 06-30 and they all climbed in, the bus set off heading for Tal-Handaq school, as they got to the top of the hill at Pieta they had to turn towards Hamrun, this was a very wide road and they would meet up with other buses heading for the school, and there they would try to get the drivers to race each other, some were good, others didn't want to know, Mike's driver was a young man and was very happy to put his foot down, it also gave them time to muck around before classes started, because they had arrived early.
School in the summer was from 07-30 until 13-00 with a break at around 10. Mike loved school in Malta, his main teachers were May Riddle and Mr Ward, Mike had a hate complex for Mr Ward, but May made up for the hate. She was married to a naval officer, he was first officer on one of the subs in Malta, but Mike was in love with her and would do anything for her, the dreams that he had about her were fantastic, and way over the top even for a lad of 15. May taught English and everything she taught Mike, he remembered. She would sit at her desk, in a white low cut top and wrap around skirt stopping at the knee, even Mike's school chums Chris and Dave were smitten, and they all had a habit of dropping there pens and pencils on the floor just to get a better view of her thighs, but she was no fool and left nothing to chance. As for Mr Ward, he was a different kettle of fish, he was tall and wore tweed suits in winter and check shirts in summer, and a tie all year round. Mike remembered the first time he went to the school with his mum and dad, and his dad said to Mr Ward, "this son of ours needs knocking into shape, I don't care how you do it, but please knock some sense into him, somehow."
And that's what Mr Ward did, he was the maths teacher, and every time Mike got the answer wrong, Mr Ward would grab Mike's hair at the back of his head and bang his head on the desk with the right answer, be it 1,5 or 10, Mike's head hit the desk. Mike, however, caught on fairly quickly after a few weeks, and with the help of fingers and toes, as they say, started to get the right answers, and at the end of every term, when they would sit there exams and tests, he found himself moving into the top five of the class. Then one day Mike found himself top of the class, first in English, maths, history, geography, music and religious knowledge, all except art, and there he came second, Dave was the class artist, he was good at painting and drawing, Chris was the sports fanatic, he loved to run, play any sport, football and cricket, he just loved it. In the winter months when the school worked English routine, Chris Dave and Mike would run the cross country course on a Wednesday, as that was there day for sports, but in the summer it was too hot, and with only working a half day, they did all the school work and then at 13-00 they boarded the busses again and went home.
Mike was planning to take the canoe out, with or without Kelvin, but he was aware that his brother would not be home for at least half an hour. When Mike got inside the flat he heard his mother's voice, "Michael is that you," "yes mum," Mike said, "I'm just going to change," "No don't do that," his mother called back, "I need you to come shopping with me, I need to go to the N.A.A.F.I." "ok mum," Mike said, " what about dad," " it's alright," mum said, "he will be home in a few minutes and will wait for kelvin, then come and pick us up at around 3, hew will bring the swimming gear and we can all go to Manoel Island for an hour or two and swim." Mike walked into the kitchen and asked if there was any cold drink, mum handed him a glass and said, "yes, homemade lemon squash in the fridge." Mike poured himself a glass and drank it down in one. "Ok," Mike said, "im ready," as he left the glass in the sink, they walked to the bus stop which was across the road, they didn't have to wait long for a bus, there seemed to be no real timetable to speak of, the busses just seemed to come along willy nilly, and left Valletta when full. The bus they caught was dark green, every bus in Malta was a different colour, dark green, light green, blue, brown, orange etc and each coloured bus went to a different destination so that wherever you lived on the Island you knew the colour of your bus. All busses left and returned to Valletta, it was the capital, and also the hub of the Island.
Mum and Mike boarded the bus and headed into Valletta, being early afternoon the bus was almost empty, so getting a seat was no problem. Sat some three seats back from the driver, \Mike looked around, the bus was very old and around the driver's cab were pictures of Mary and the baby Jesus, and in the front of the bus above the drivers head was a small statue of Jesus on the cross, it even had the blood dripping from the hands and feet, and every time any Maltese got on the bus they would cross themselves. As Dorothy said, "they have little faith in the driver, they put their faith in a dead man.
To stop the bus in Malta there was a length of string above the two sets of seats, this went to a metal clapper attached to a bell above the driver's cab, pull down hard on the string and the clapper hit the bell and the driver stopped at the next stop, very simple, very crude, but it worked. In and around the driver's cab the decorations was beautiful, the driver's put in a lot of work to make there buses special, even the outside of the really old buses were painted in fancy scrollwork, and when parked up in Valletta local people would look at them in wonder.
There was a cool breeze blowing through the bus as all the windows were open, they drove up through Floriana and on into the bus station where they joined the queue to head back to Sliema. As Mike and his mum got off, they made their way through the arch and headed along the main street, passing the bombed out opera house, Dorothy had planned to go into Wembley Stores, but grabbing Mike's arm she made her way down into Victoria Square, where there is a very nice cafe, and if you want to, you can sit out under a large sunshade and enjoy your drink whilst watching Malta life pass you by. Mike and his mum found a table under a sunshade and waited to be served, a waiter in black trousers, white shirt and black bow tie came to the table and asked for our order. "What's it to be," mum asked Mike, "what are you having," Mike asked with a smile, knowing full well what the answer would be, mother smiled at her son, then to the waiter she said, "we'll have two cheesecakes, a 7up and a Kinney." The waiter took the order and disappeared. "Well son how was school today, " mum asked, "not too bad," Mike replied, "we're started learning algebra, and I just cannot seem to get my head around it." Mother looked at her son, then said, "have a word with your dad, he's the maths expert," then she laughed, and with a smile on her face said, "Yep, ask your father. The cheesecakes and drinks arrived and very little was said for a while, they just enjoyed the moment.
Maltese cheesecakes are like nothing you get in England, over here, they consist of a biscuit base, a lemony flavoured thick custard and a topping of fruit like strawberries or mandarins, it's very sweet and usually had as part of a dinner coarse. Cheesecakes in Malta are savoury, they are made with puff pastry and ricotta cheese, most people have them warm, and as you bite into them the ricotta cheese melts in the mouth and the puff pastry crumbles into fine flakes and follows the cheese into the stomach.
With the help of the ice cold drink, the plats were soon empty, Mike's mum finished off the Kinney, this was a drink that she loved, it was an acquired taste, being made from oranges and herbs, Mike did not like it at all and tended to stick to 7 up or coke, he felt that Kinney was a soft drink for grown ups, whereas his generation were coke and 7 up, drinkers. Mike liked 7 up more than coke, he found it more refreshing in very hot weather, maybe it was the fact it was made with lemons and limes and not as sweet as coke.
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