Vignettes from Malta part 4
Water Bottles on the Sidewalk
Walking home from Melita Gardens one night, the group looked at the water bottles placed outside the homes of Malta for no apparent reason. Some of the bottles were attached to nearby fences with wire though the bottles still sat on the ground. I decided to ask.
According to one of the people I talked to: Apparently, a long time ago, maybe a decade, one of the local papers came out with a news story that said bottles of water placed outside of homes in places where you do not want dogs to pee will prevent the dogs from doing so. The paper later retracted the story as false information, but the legend persists, even when some Maltese claim that a water bottle is more likely to be peed on by their particular dogs.
Balloons on the Bus
A child on the bus was holding a balloon animal with a package of Twistees in its ears. We traveled for quite a long time, and the bus was standing room only. When the gun shot went off, everyone on the bus flinched; some of those standing crouched down, and those in seats looked around for the danger. People realized that there had been no gunshot, but just the popping of the balloon. With the release of tension from what could have been, everyone laughed about the incident.
The Red Roundabout
I was riding with one of my Maltese friends who wasn’t exactly sure where we were going. When we came up to the intersection I pointed the street that we needed to go down. Instead of making the right hand turn, she went to the left.
“NO! It’s down that road!” I said a little more emphatically than I meant, too.
“Vera, but I have to go around the roundabout,” she said.
“What roundabout?”
“It’s the red circle on the ground.”
“What? That’s not a roundabout. That’s paint.” Apparently, they take their roundabouts seriously in Malta, even when they are just made of paint.
Walking home from Melita Gardens one night, the group looked at the water bottles placed outside the homes of Malta for no apparent reason. Some of the bottles were attached to nearby fences with wire though the bottles still sat on the ground. I decided to ask.
According to one of the people I talked to: Apparently, a long time ago, maybe a decade, one of the local papers came out with a news story that said bottles of water placed outside of homes in places where you do not want dogs to pee will prevent the dogs from doing so. The paper later retracted the story as false information, but the legend persists, even when some Maltese claim that a water bottle is more likely to be peed on by their particular dogs.
Balloons on the Bus
A child on the bus was holding a balloon animal with a package of Twistees in its ears. We traveled for quite a long time, and the bus was standing room only. When the gun shot went off, everyone on the bus flinched; some of those standing crouched down, and those in seats looked around for the danger. People realized that there had been no gunshot, but just the popping of the balloon. With the release of tension from what could have been, everyone laughed about the incident.
The Red Roundabout
I was riding with one of my Maltese friends who wasn’t exactly sure where we were going. When we came up to the intersection I pointed the street that we needed to go down. Instead of making the right hand turn, she went to the left.
“NO! It’s down that road!” I said a little more emphatically than I meant, too.
“Vera, but I have to go around the roundabout,” she said.
“What roundabout?”
“It’s the red circle on the ground.”
“What? That’s not a roundabout. That’s paint.” Apparently, they take their roundabouts seriously in Malta, even when they are just made of paint.