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W E AT H E R
TUCK ME IN WHEN SEPTEMBER ENDS WORDS BY Wayne Flask
F
or most of those who can’t wait for the ides of June, the 16th August often marks the beginning of the end – of summer.
Suddenly, the spectre of September and its few, mildly cloudy days, or that first dampener of a storm starts looming all over those who somehow still feel like schoolchildren who literally live for the sunny season. For some reason, the S-month still conjures dreary images of the back to school nightmare, where there’s a list of books to be bought, the ordeal of stationery requirements, a school uniform that might need a few sartorial updates and – the biggest worry of them all – the prospect of losing the essential liberty of waking up late because of a school van waiting to pick you up at an ungodly hour – say, 7am. Bittersweet school nostalgia aside, our sunny island does seem to calm down after September kicks in. Those who unfathomably hate the summer heat (because it’s been hot even before the invention of Facebook), will invariably feel much more tranquil as the temperatures go down by a notch or two. Not only does it become a bit more “bearable” in terms of weather, but the rush at beaches and resorts also seems to subside a little until it reaches a plateau in October. Does Malta hibernate? No, it doesn’t – not at all. As the 2018 Capital of Culture looms onto Valletta, there is no
During Notte Bianca, the Capital City is up all night with a number of events and stages set up to provide a truly unique atmosphere lack of entertainment options thanks to Notte Bianca, a now-recurring, highly successful crowd-puller held at the beginning of October. During Notte Bianca, the Capital City is up all night with a number of events and stages set up to provide a truly unique atmosphere: from theatre to alternative music to museums open at night, this event is now in its 11th edition and kicks off Malta’s cultural season. What’s more, if you hate going out (how could you?) there’s plenty of entertainment on TV, with the football season returning to keep many of us Maltese occupied through endless, quasi-philosophical discussions about Man United’s 4-3-3 or Milan’s immoralbut-needed spending spree. Those who
get bored watching football from home (again, how could you?) always have the option of visiting one of the hundreds of sports bars in Malta, where the philosophy multiplier tends to be close to a Descartes essay. It’s not all doom and gloom. While most of us will miss summer – the season for beaches and cold beer, for those who prefer sun creams to suntan will, without a doubt, look forward to the autumn “chill”. Which leaves us with the schoolkid – for whom there seems to be no cover from uniforms, books, and the nightmarish appearance of the school van. Hold on, Christmas hols are around the corner.