Muskettieri
(‘whirlpool’) that pulls down those who dare bend over and look down its depths – a persistent threat! With my cousins, I always had a wonderful time which made me treasure them as special friends.
About my grandmother’s house … I can write a volume!
Uncle Natal takes me with him
Aunt Gerita was also married to a man from Malta ... Natal, from Marsa. And with their family of four children, they were also settled in Marsa.
I always called Natal ‘uncle’ ... and I loved him.
Uncle Natal used to visit Gozo frequently. He used to come with men who would accompany Perit Duminku Mintoff when the latter came to Gozo to organize one of his corner political meetings.
One day, Uncle Natal came to my family house and took me with him; I must have been eight years old, maybe! But I remember myself, quite well, standing beside him among a small gathering of people in Ta’ Sannat’s main square, beside the parish church, next to a large truck on which there was, among other people, Mintoff, delivering one of his raucous speeches!
With Gozo’s
My father subscribed to, and used to receive by post, the classic monthly magazine of popular technology (first published in January 1802 by Henry Haven Windsor) Popular Mechanics which, sometimes, among the information on mechanics, used to carry articles about the secrets of tricks! I was interested in these articles and succeeded in learning some of the tricks, which I started to ‘perform’ first with friends, then even in public, regularly, in the ‘The Musichiere’ programme, put up by Anton t’Ettru in the hall of the former Gozo British Council building – now in the hands of the Labour Party – in Gozo’s main square, ItTokk. This used to take place when I was 14 or 15 years old.
One day I was approached by Koli Apap, who, together with Spiru Sillato, Spiru Cauchi, Joseph Micallef, and Fredu rReverist had established the ‘Muskettieri Għawdxin’ (Gozo Musketeers). He invited me to