Coffee Date #3 (aka #weekendcoffeeshare)

Let’s imagine we’re just having a chat over coffee, or tea if that’s more your thing. It’s been a while since my last post. You will forgive me for not being here during these past couple of weeks, and even if this comes to you late, I still want to wish you a Happy Easter. To those who don’t celebrate I wish you a Happy Spring. I feel I have been missing for too long, so here’s a little life update for you.

So over our coffee and chat I will tell you that it hasn’t been the greatest time. I feel under the weather due to sciatica pain. I know it’s not the end of the world, but at the moment I’m not feeling well and not sleeping well either. I don’t sleep well in general (being on the verge of insomniac) but now this lack of rest is taking its toll. During the day I keep shifting positions every few minutes or so. Alternating between sitting, standing and pacing the corridor is one thing, but depending on someone else for anything, errands, lifting things, etc. is very frustrating. J is abroad at the moment so I’m managing the little things on my own. Thank goodness my mom and dad have been over to help for the past few days. My thoughts go to anyone who’s sick. You are not alone.

If we were having coffee right now I would probably stop drinking it and tell you what a frustrating telephone call I had yesterday afternoon with someone at Transport Malta. So the time has come to renew my driving licence. Doing that is not complicated at all, you could even do it online. Or that’s what I thought. So I went and got my medical form filled by the doc. Done. Passport photo. Done. Since I wanted to keep the driving of commercial vehicles option, which is renewable every five years, I called ADT to ask how much that would cost me. Some idiot on the phone told me that it would be 40 Euro, because loosely speaking that was the fee for the 5-year option. So I wrote a cheque and sent everything by post. Yesterday, during one of those nasty back cramps, I received a call by them telling me that the fee is 80 Euro. OK well and good, but can somebody explain why someone else told me otherwise? What kind of incompetent person at customer care doesn’t know the answer to a basic query? The person at the other end of the phone couldn’t give me one and all she did was insist I go to Floriana to settle the matter. By tomorrow morning, ghal gieħna (loosely translated as: for chrissssake!) Well, settling the matter is easy. Send me the forms and the cheque by post, and I’ll send everything back with a new cheque with the correct amount. It’s not my fault your people are living in La-La-Land. (By now my coffee has gone cold. I’ll get another one.)

While wishing I had a lovely croissant filled with chocolate, with my cappuccino (which I don’t have either, darn it) I am thinking about something more positive. Let me just say how wonderful two of my dearest friends are. Maria and Christina share their recipes with me, and give me permission to share them here on C&T, they message me constantly asking how I am and if I need anything, and last week they drove me back and forth home after sharing some lovely food and an ice cream. They keep me smiling. As do my beautiful friends Raffaella in Malta, Abigail and Fiona in Surrey, and Anna, Sadie, Sarah and Jasmine. Thank God for the internet!

Here’s to friendship!

Rob x

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