It is only because we resolutely limit our horizons to what we can see with the naked eye that we fail to see that our small island is after all part of the bigger world.
All our media limits its world to Malta and blocks out all that is happening across the sea in south east Sicily and also in neighbouring Tunisia.
Whereas Storm Harry which hit us with all its force this week hit all three countries. It was a Perfect Storm (actually two storm systems back to back, say the experts).
It caused four deaths in Tunisia, suspended any communication by sea and caused huge damage everywhere.
People speak as if it was apocalyptic, as if it was absolutely unprecedented. It was exceptionally savage, yes, but it has happened before.
I remember walking in Marsascala years ago and somebody pointing out a corner house next to the sea beyond the church, and telling me how the raging sea had invaded it from top to bottom.
Now it happened again. We saw the sea invading a private house and breaking down a sturdy door before causing huge damage to a bar/restaurant.
I am no expert but perhaps the Marsascala people instead of protesting against a yacht marina should have protested in favour of a breakwater given that the bay heads exactly where the Lbic thunders in.
We had a national angst day whether to close the schools for a day with arguments raging around and the government at the end coming up with a Salomonic judgement – the schools to open but the absentees will not be punished. And even so, the union protested.
How different the other countries – both in Sicily and in Tunisia. They shut the schools and that was it.
Here we even had someone count the number of children who defied the storm and went to school.
We then had the national scandal, but those who only watch TVM would not have heard of it. Coming to think of it, did Net feature it? Where’s the Opposition when you need it? The scandal was the new narrow roads on stilts at Msida, inconvenient on ordinary days let alone in the storm. What happened was that cars and buses found the sea had invaded the other end of the road and cars and buses thus had to reverse their way back. Where’s the minister, now?
And we may have had a success story to celebrate but it has been kept under wraps. Remember how any rain would flood the road from Smart in Balzan all the way through Birkirkara and down to Msida Valley? Then they (the other government) had dug a tunnel right down to the sea at Msida. I not know if this project was brought to conclusion but I know that the streets of central Birkirkara are no longer raging rivers. Don’t know about the Msida Valley though.
Back to our neighbours. There were scenes of devastation in Malta but they pale in comparison with the devastation in Ognina, Catania, and the rest of the seashore. The storm kept going till Salerno near Naples.
There were many scenes of crazy bravado and beat the waves whereas here we only had the scene of two (possibly foreigners) shouted at and shamed by the Sliema mayor.
And speaking of mayors, did you hear about the two mayors, one that of Taormina, who gave an interview on FB television only for a freak wave to come from behind and almost bowl them over?
There was also the enforced evacuation of 60 individuals from that favourite of Maltese tourists, Marzamemi.
After all this was a particularly severe Mediterranean storm. The real problems lay elsewhere.
In Kyiv the cold reached -15. There was no electricity and people trudged in complete darkness lit only by passing cars. The only relief was to be found in the still open supermarkets which provided people with both light and warmth. The relentless bombing has again forced thousands to escape elsewhere.
In Iran the number of those killed by the regime continues to increase, the latest figure topping 36,000.
And in the US the 80-something President continues to unleash ICE on innocent citizens and badmouth European leaders for not helping the US get Greenland.
Well did Canadian PM Carney urge the moderate countries of the world to act together more.
History note
The maritime history and architecture of Malta
Trade, piracy and naval warfare in the Central Mediterranean
By Ayse Devrim Atauz
2004
The Maltese islands were close to the major maritime routes throughout history and they were often on the border between clashing military, political, religious, and cultural entities.