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Malta Tour July 2014
Day 7

“Leaving Malta”

Day 6 had provided Clare Choir’s last concert in Malta, and Night 6 had provided the last chance for starlit Cisk-drinking and skinny-dipping.  We were all therefore on great form for the morning service at Malta’s Anglican Cathedral, and this was especially true for Graham, Mark and Abi, who had spent a sleepless night with Alex in hospital.  Fortunately, any dozers were kept awake by the barrage of (daytime) fireworks that were thoughtfully employed outside the church in order to ward off evil spirits.

At the conclusion of the service we proceeded to a wine reception upon the Cathedral's beautiful sea-view balcony.  It had been almost nine hours since the previous night’s Cisks, and so the wine was much appreciated.  From there Mark took us to a beautiful restaurant in St. Paul’s Bay, where we enjoyed fresh seafood, heated debate of Catholic doctrine, and tearful speeches from our leavers.

Three hours remained until our coach to the airport, and so a number of us engaged in remedial tanning.  The present author was finally privileged to apply sun cream to our Director of Music’s back, surely the highlight of four years at Clare.

Our journey to the airport went via Balzan, where Mark showed us one of the ‘festas’ so characteristic of the Catholic tradition in Malta: we saw brass bands, festive street decorations, and colourful statues, and managed not to lose anyone before returning to the coach.

At Malta International Airport we gave our final goodbyes to our wonderful patron and guide Mark Agius, and proceeded through security to find that our flight was delayed.  Fortunately this afforded us half an hour’s extra viewing time for the Germany-Barcelona final, as well as the opportunity to stock up on Cisk in duty-free.  Furthermore, we chanced upon an incongruous grand piano in the departure lounge, and treated our somewhat stunned fellow passengers to a series of epic operatic duets.

We finally arrived at England to find that Germany had won 1-0 and that our luggage was delayed.  It was 1.45am by the time we reached the hotel, and wearily we set our alarm clocks for the 9am coach to our recording session in Tonbridge.  This early start was especially appealing for Bozzy, who had consumed all of his duty-free Cisk on the way back home and was in a great mood.  Nursing our Maltese tans, we looked forward to a morning recording session of Giles Swayne, but already missed sun, beach, and Our Lady of Malta.

Peter Harrison (Senior Organ Scholar)