About that Mason's Robbie Burns Night
Unlike the famous Edith Piaf who had No Regrets, I have many, and to add to the list is that I did not take my camera to the Robbie Burns celebration at the Scottish Masonic Hall in Paola last night. This is a fairly small chapter of the Masons who share their venue with the Irish and the english Chapter. There are actually about 7 separate chapters of Masons in Malta all with about 30 members. One does wonder why they don't pool their membership into fewer venues, but they seem to like it the way it is. We actually had a really nice evening.
We were invited by Sean who is a partner in a little neighbourhood bar called Ta Linda. Linda is the other partner. Ta means 'of' in Maltese. So the bar is of Linda. We have got to know a group of people who frequent this bar, and we found out last night that most of them are also Masons in the Scottish/Irish/English chapter, which makes perfect sense as that is where these people are all from.
We were made to feel very welcome, enjoyed a very good meal which started with scotch broth, 2nd course was haggis with turnip and potato (we were both prepared not to like haggis, but were delightfully surprised to find that we did). The main course was prime rib with really nice veggies and then a trifle like cake.
BUT what really made the whole evening very special for me was being shown into the museum where we looked through ledgers and minutes books dating back to 1921 and forward. These ledgers were kept with perfect penmanship and were written up in beautifully bound books.
Then, because I am not a non-member male I was allowed into the temple. Carol, the past Grand Master's wife invited me to see the temple. No men who are not members of the Masons are allowed into the temple, but women are. I was of course sworn to secrecy as to what I saw and will honour that. I was very please to be in this historic building and felt priveleged to be looking through their past so close up.
BUT that wasn't all - the reason I am so mad at myself for not taking the camer is that after dinner we were entertained by a Scottish Bagpipe Band, who were not actually Scottish. They were in fact mostly Maltese and the music they played was absolutely gob-smackingly incredible. Usually I would shy away from bag pipes and was prepared to sit through it gritting my teeth. But this band, the Wallace Pipe Band were quite different. They were made up of bag pipes and drums and created music which sometimes sounded like traditional Scottish music and sometimes like a mixture of Scottish and Far Eastern music. Sometimes like Indy Celtic. I took some video on my cell phone, but cannot save that into my computer, so you'll have to take my word for it until I get the Video which was being recorded during the evening.
Malta is so full of surprises.
We were invited by Sean who is a partner in a little neighbourhood bar called Ta Linda. Linda is the other partner. Ta means 'of' in Maltese. So the bar is of Linda. We have got to know a group of people who frequent this bar, and we found out last night that most of them are also Masons in the Scottish/Irish/English chapter, which makes perfect sense as that is where these people are all from.
We were made to feel very welcome, enjoyed a very good meal which started with scotch broth, 2nd course was haggis with turnip and potato (we were both prepared not to like haggis, but were delightfully surprised to find that we did). The main course was prime rib with really nice veggies and then a trifle like cake.
BUT what really made the whole evening very special for me was being shown into the museum where we looked through ledgers and minutes books dating back to 1921 and forward. These ledgers were kept with perfect penmanship and were written up in beautifully bound books.
Then, because I am not a non-member male I was allowed into the temple. Carol, the past Grand Master's wife invited me to see the temple. No men who are not members of the Masons are allowed into the temple, but women are. I was of course sworn to secrecy as to what I saw and will honour that. I was very please to be in this historic building and felt priveleged to be looking through their past so close up.
BUT that wasn't all - the reason I am so mad at myself for not taking the camer is that after dinner we were entertained by a Scottish Bagpipe Band, who were not actually Scottish. They were in fact mostly Maltese and the music they played was absolutely gob-smackingly incredible. Usually I would shy away from bag pipes and was prepared to sit through it gritting my teeth. But this band, the Wallace Pipe Band were quite different. They were made up of bag pipes and drums and created music which sometimes sounded like traditional Scottish music and sometimes like a mixture of Scottish and Far Eastern music. Sometimes like Indy Celtic. I took some video on my cell phone, but cannot save that into my computer, so you'll have to take my word for it until I get the Video which was being recorded during the evening.
Malta is so full of surprises.
Comments
This is cool! I just found your blog doing a web search. We also own a Transworld, just like yours and we're leaving for the Caribbean (from Sweden) in June 2010 if all goes well. I'll enjoy reading this!
BRG Hampus & Lotta