The invitation came from the party’s young secretary-general Jason Micallef, who told me that Dr Sant wanted a representative of the independent media to join him in his Mieghek fil-Misrah activity, which saw Dr Sant and members of the MLP administration touring a number of towns and villages.

Accompanying Dr Sant were his deputies, Dr Michael Falzon and Dr Charles Mangion, and the candidates contesting the European Parliament election on behalf of the MLP. Most of these came in their own cars.

The visits started from the St Helen Basilica in Birkirkara, where Dr Sant spoke to residents, who gave him a loud applause on his arrival.

I was invited to ride in Dr Sant’s white Mazda. Dr Sant drove, Dr Mangion sat on the passenger seat next to him and I sat at the back between Dr Falzon and Dr Sant’s aide, Frans.

The temperature inside the car was near to unbearable. The gauge on the dashboard read 15 degrees, but I did not utter a word on the matter, until Dr Falzon complained that we were going to end up like frozen beef. It was then when Dr Sant replied with a “next time tell me before” and increased to temperature to 18.5 degrees. Not much of a difference but definitely an improvement!

From Birkirkara, we drove to Lija, Attard, Gharghur, Naxxar and finally Mosta. In Naxxar, I was surprised and certainly amused when a woman walked up to me, shook my hand and told me: “Prosit, prosit”. I had no option but to reply “Thank you”, because otherwise, the explanation of what I was really doing there would have taken ages and she would have missed the opportunity to listen to her leader.

In Gharghur the amount of panic we created because of the number of cars worried Dr Sant, who on the way to Naxxar said that he will not go anywhere close to the square because otherwise we would have created traffic havoc again. Therefore, he decided to park in a side-street and we all walked to the locality’s Labour Party club.

The last club we visited was in Mosta, where we were welcomed by a sizeable crowd chanting the MLP anthem. Dr Sant, Dr Mangion, Dr Falzon, Mr Azzopardi and Labour MP Chris Cardona all addressed the Mosta residents.

After a good 30 minutes speaking to residents inside the club, Dr Sant proceeded to the club’s bar where we had a chat over a drink.

Dr Sant confirmed my information that he had been invited to attend and address a meeting in France, as part of the French Labour party’s campaign for the EP election. He would have liked to go, but there is a big probability that he will not because of his political commitments in Malta, mainly his participation in tonight’s Xarabank with the other two leaders, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Harry Vassallo. He said that it would have been a great experience, adding that he was proud to have been invited to address the event.

After leaving the Mosta MLP club, Dr Sant drove me back to my car which was parked in Birkirkara. In the car we spoke about different things, including the idea of having me accompanying the labour administration on this visit.

It was truly an exceptional experience. Firstly, I had never been in a party leader’s car before in the four years that I have worked for The Malta Independent. Secondly, I never saw Dr Sant with his ‘political mode’ turned OFF – a totally different man.