Last year, after following a University course on “Environment Management and Planning” I decided to submit a Essay about chameleons in Gozo.

For several months I studied these amazing creatures, observing them closely and mapping their locations throughout the island. During this time, I learned a great deal about these animals. Mostly learned to respect them.

Eventually as autumn set in last year, the chameleon went into hiding, and soon they nowhere to be found.
I completely forgot about them, until few days ago, passing through a busy area of Sannat, I saw a pair of goggled eyes staring at me from a small bush.

I am lazy and having been writing much lately.  Almost a months has passed since the Public Forum “Gozo as an Ecological Island” and I wrote nothing more on the subject.

Last month’s forum seemed to have sparked the idea of publicly discussing matters that are in the interest of most residents. That’s a great thing. A good democracy should promote public debates in which stakeholder can express their opinion and broaden their horizons.

Next on the list is about a debate that has been going on for many years. Whether or not implement a valid airlink between Gozo and Malta.

The discussion, promoted by Business Chamber of Commerce, will be held on Tuesday, the 1st of July 2008, at the Grand Hotel, Mgarr, at 7.30pm.  ( more details).

See you there.

Could Gozo become an ecological island? I don’t know, but it would be nice.

Yesterday, as the Mepa decided to go ahead with the shameful re-development of Mistra Villate, I attended to the first European Parliament Civil Forum discussing ‘Gozo as an Ecological Island’.

So, here are some of the points one needs to ponder on:

• Renewable Energy
• Water Conservation
• Ecotourism ( AgroTourism and FishingTourism)
• Organic Farming
• Nature Conservation
• Green Transport

In the coming days I will try to elaborate and give my personal view on these points. Feel free to post your comments.

Few years ago when I lived in Germany, a European law was passed that said that all products had to state whether or not they were organic. Suddenly there was all kind of organic products on the shelves. There was all kind of bio ( German for organic) stuff. There were bio-cereals, bio-fruits, bio-vegetable, bio-eggs. Yet the organic products were a just small proportion compared to all the rest, the non organic ones. What did it mean? Had everything I had been eating up to then been NOT organic??

So, when did all this happen??? When had all the normal products become not normal! I must have been asleep when it happened as when I grew up, I had always been told that the vegetable and fruit were a direct produce of the earth and therefore very healthy. Now I was being told that it was not like this and that most of the food I ate, even the one I thought was the healthiest, was actually adulterated, polluted or maybe genetically or chemically modified. It meant that all the apples, oranges, tomatoes, potatoes that I had been buying at the supermarket were actually not the genuine product. Or maybe they were, but they were definitely not as healthy as I had always thought.

But why am I talking of this.

This morning I was at the car-boot sale in Marsalforn. As usual, I bought plenty of books which I will never manage to read, but beside that, I made a little discovery. On my way back to the car I noticed a lovely French(?) lady distributing some leaflets and ask for one. It said “Organika - Gozo goes Organic!” and it’s about a new shop in St. Gorg’s Square. Who knows, it might be a place worth checking out.

Very strong winds that reached up to force 8 have been battering the island. It’s nature showing it’s muscles.

It’s official: Hampermania has started.
I go to the supermarket and all I see are hampers. Big ones that cost a fortune or simple ones with all the products you never wanted to buy, all nicely stacked together, out of reach, beneath a plastic wrapping. I open my postbox and again, all I find is pamphlets of hampers. I move around Victoria and discover that hamper shops have sprouted all over town.
Hampers are everywhere.

So, what’s about the hamper that is so fascinating?
I gave the matter a little thought and noticed that most hampers are characterised by the same four elements: basket, straw, groceries and plastic wrapping.
Logic says that one of these four elements must be the catalysing factor.
Is it the Baby-Jesus cradle that contains all products? No, I can really do without that. In fact, I still don’t know what to do with the one I received last year.
Is it the groceries? Not even, they are the same ones I see everyday in the supermarket. Nothing more and nothing less.
Maybe it’s the straw beneath the products? Naa, definitely no.

So, what makes a hamper so much more appealing than a plastic bag full of groceries?
Let’s be fair, if someone presented himself to your house with a yellow, plastic bag full of groceries and told you that it’s your Xmas present, you probably would strike him off your list of friends.

There is only one possible answer: it must be the wrapping.
The wrapping?? But that’s the first thing we throw away?

Damn, had I known it before I would have wrapped myself in transparent foil for my last passport picture.

Gozoblog has been in my mind for few years.
I often thought Gozo needed once again its own newspaper, its own radio, its own TV and, why not, its own blog website.
A place where to write a thought or express a personal opinion.
An opinion about what? About anything. About hot topics as environment, politics or hunting.
But also a place where to write about past and upcoming events; where to invent stories, start diaries or publish poetries; where to comment the news or where to start new trends.

So Gozoblog is for everyone? Possibly yes. For all the ones that love Gozo, that live in Gozo or that were born in Gozo and are now somewhere far.
For the ones that have something to say and that are able do it in a civil manner.
For the ones that have fresh, brilliant ideas but nobody to propose them to.
For the ones that can make a change and want to know what people think about it.
For the ones that want to unleash their inner selves in torrents of words.
For the ones that like to read other people’s opinions.

What are you waiting for? Start your Gozoblog right away!
Oh, just in case you’d like to ask … it is free!

It’s eight o’clock in the morning in Xaghra, as in the rest of Central Europe. Last night it rained, the floor is wet and the cats of the alley are waiting for their daily meal or just for a scratch behind the ears.

I look at the horizon as I do everyday on my way to work. The sea is calm, blue and striped of many different shades; it’s a nice contrast with the vivid, lush green of the grass fields and the orange red colour Ramla’s sandy beach.

Above the horizon is a strip of white fluffy clouds and just below them, touching the horizon is a faint line of blue: Sicily.
Seen from Gozo, Sicily, the land of the Cyclops, is just a thin, blue smudge over the neat line of the horizon. None the less, it’s a marvellous spectacle.

- But how is it possible to see Sicily from here ? – told me once an Englishman. He sat on one of the wooden benches of the Gleaneagles Bar drinking his beer in huge sips. – I tell you, it’s bollocks! Even in the clearest day, an average man can only see as far as 2.89 miles. So how the hell would anyone be able to see a place as far as 60 miles. I tell you again, it’s just a legend!. -

It’s not a legend! On a very clear day, looking direction north of Gozo from elevated place such as Xaghra, Nadur or Zebbug, it is possible to see the blue silhoutte of the distant land of Sicily lingering over the horizon. Sometimes, it’s even possible to see the Etna, Europe’s highest vulcano, and it’s snowy peak. Then as the nights falls, a stream of distant lights appears above the dark like of the horizon.

I you look closely to this picture, squinting your eyes you will be able to see exactly what I described: a faint, somehow irregular, blue smudge: Sicily.

One of the only few left donkeys in Gozo.

Where are all the donkeys gone? Is this the last of them???
Can anyone remember when the sight of a donkey pulling a cart with a farmer and a big baler of hay on top was just an everyday occurrence? I do.

Was that so long ago? I guess not as I am 34 and I do remember seeing the less-than-odd donkey strolling along the road to Marsalforn.

While in North Africa the donkey has never ceased to be the most valuable mean of transport, many other countries are re-discovering the value of this trustworthy and tireless animal, for tourism as well as for everyday use.

In the island of Rhodos (Greece), an island which has a lot in common with the Maltese Islands, beside being still in use as transportation, the donkeys proved to be a great tourist attraction. ( here is an example)

The Island of Pantelleria, who’s proud of its asino pantesco, is taking advantage of the EU founds has started a new project to save their donkey heritage. ( check it out here)

In the little town of Castelbuono in Sicily, has instead recruited six donkey to help the town cleaners as ecological operators substituting the vastly more expensive and much more polluting rubbish vans. ( see the video and the article here)

The move, beside having brought the Castelbuono in the headlines of news all over the world, it has placed the village on the tourist map and worked out as a much cheaper and greener alternative.

So, when is it going to be Gozo’s turn to bring back the donkey?

With the EU pressing for Spring hunting to be banned, the new appointment of the new Archpriests and with the arrival of an early, unceasing rain, there was too little time to fully appreciate the Autumn Season, so, almost without warning Winter has arrived.

Due to a force 9 Severe Gale, yesterday the Gozo Ferry had to suspend its services for the evening.
In just about three days the temperature has dropped from the warmth of 20°C to the rigid 14°C, with gusts of cold north-western wind that makes it feel like 9.0°C. Allegedly, two penguins and a polar bear were seen roaming in the early morning in the outskirts of Victoria.

So put away your summer clothes, bring scarves and gloves out the boxes and rush an buy presents, Xmas is coming early this year.