“Hi”  from Europe

(Email from Martin Hastie and Carmen Debono, Tuesday 29th June, 2004)

 

Malta: The weather was between the low 20s and the low 30s with only one day of rain which lasted for 15 minutes and then the sun came back out again. Some interesting stuff observed while tripping around Europe: Although the roads have a maximum speed limit of 80 km/h I was surprised to see Blackbirds and Blades hooning with the scooters. Some of the scooters have expansion power pipes, others have open exhausts, but nearly all the riders ride in tee shirts, shorts and light footwear.

 

We were there for 11 days and only travelled ,via our Suzuki 4WD Jimmy, 250 miles. The main coast road is the smoothest of all the roads but still is in worse condition than the Black Spur used to be.  The road rules are different to what we are used to.  A stop sign means don't stop, or if you do, make sure you are at least half way into the intersection. The speed limit does not mean anything: a 30 km/h sign means “go fast”.  Double lines mean overtake on blind bends into the path of on-coming cars. By the end of our stay in Malta I was getting good at charging into intersections and roundabouts with out giving way.

 

Scotland: Weather was between 14 and 21. Our next stop was 6 days in Scotland driving a Vauxhall 1.6 litre Corsa. We started from Glasgow and drove around the locks including where the Lock Ness Monster is living. (We didn't see him).

 

The roads are a bikers dream with great sweepers, great views, and smooth roads. To get the Club over here could be an expensive exercise but if we could, we would have dream roads at our finger tips.  The only issue I had was just after passing a sign saying "Frustration Causes Accidents. Please Allow Overtaking". I tried to overtake a European tourist bus but when I was beside it, the driver accelerated. So I waited a couple of miles because the car didn't have the punch to overtake safely. We had to slow down when we came across a bad head-on crash between two cars on a bend. Then, when I had sufficient straight road to try again, with the Vauxhall motor screaming, the bus moved over, forcing me wide, the driver’s side mirror hitting the roadside shrub.

 

The weather was 50/50 with rain half the time. We drove 500 miles in 6 days.

 

Paris, Florence, Venice and Rome (via train) to come. Then home via Hong Kong, hopefully buying some goodies to replace my stolen lap tops, etc.

 

Martin and Carmen

 

 

 

Joke: A Kindergarten teacher was observing her classroom of children while they drew. She would occasionally walk around to see each child's work. As she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was?  The girl replied, "I'm drawing God." The teacher paused and said, "But no one knows what God looks like."  Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing, the girl replied,  "They will in a minute."

 

The children had all been photographed, and the teacher was trying to persuade them each to buy a copy of the group picture.  "Just think how nice it will be to look at it when you are all grown up and say, 'There's Jennifer; she's a lawyer,' or 'That's Michael. He's a doctor.'"  A small voice at the back of the room rang out, "And there's the teacher. She's dead."

 

The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a Catholic elementary school for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples. The nun made a note, and posted on the apple tray: "Take only ONE. God is watching."  Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies. A child had written a note, "Take all you want. God is watching the apples."