Kalkara Moments – in the shadow of the Three Cities

● A book of memoirs by Charles Flores

The generational cycle forms an integral part in the on-going weaving of the history of a country, city, village and nation. The social and economic process that occurs during the shift of generations adds spice to the stories of that mass of individuals who make up a nation.

In this small collection of fleeting memoirs, Charles Flores spotlights the post-war generation that has left its mark on the modern history pages of most European countries, not least Malta, with an accent on the epoch-making events of the Sixties. It all started at village and town levels, in the author’s case the tranquil village of Kalkara that sits serenely in the shadow of the Three Cities.

Suburban Kalkara is where Flores lived his entire childhood and teenage. In his typical, fastforward style that reveals the journalist/raconteur in him, he presents a series of written water-colour vignettes that feature personal stories and anecdotes (such that of Roger Moore and the Fort Rinella cannon and the day a dophin gave a dancing display), related to the story of his home village, the nearby Three Cities and Malta. He visits old, make-shift football pitches, and recalls pastimes, traditions, celebrations and activities that children and young men and women of his generation took part in before the advent of the electronic age with its computers and Internet.

“Waqtiet Kalkariżi – għad-dell tal-Kottonera” (BDL) makes for easy, pleasant reading, but is still a source of valuable information for the student, the teacher, the researcher and historian who are always in search of more stories for their continuing study of the Malta that we once knew – and lost.