I read Josanne Cassar’s article titled “Oliver’s Malta” (TMIS, 30August) with a lot of nostalgia. My daughter, who has just returned from a holiday in Malta, bought me that book and in the last few days I have read some chapters that were of prime interest to me and I ended up having exactly the same feelings as Josanne.

There was not much that was new in what Oliver wrote, having experienced much of what I suspect the rest of the book will reveal, but one thing becomes much clearer for the younger generation – that life was much simpler, in my and Oliver’s youth, than what it is today.

But I want to take it one step further – we had less but the little we had gave us much more pleasure than the excesses with which today we sometimes measure our happiness, affluence and success. We, who remember the years just after the war can vividly recollect the stretching our parents had to do to make ends meet, but somehow we managed, stayed entirely out of debt and the little we had, we owned outright.

I remember when my grandfather made me wooden toys – he was a charge man of shipwrights at HM Dockyards and when he retired he demonstrated his skills at home, always discouraging me from staying around him in case I took a liking for the carpentry trade! My career had to be much better than his!

My first toy was a wooden truck made from scraps of wood but finely finished and painted with as much care as a grandfather could give to a grandchild. Toys were a once-a-year affair, at Christmas time, and were received with much joy and with the implied notion that it will have to be another Christmas before new toys were received. But I also remember that in the mid fifties, at my father’s suggestion, I donated all my toys, which were almost in mint condition, to the poor, since one of the town band clubs held an annual Christmas party for children who were cared for in Church institutions. It therefore breaks my heart when through this media and elsewhere, some people lament about the tough times we are going through now. To them I must say that they either are too young or their memory of the real tough times of yore has been clouded or conveniently forgotten since in recent years they have become accustomed to having just about anything their heart desires without as much as blinking an eye.

I remember the first time going for a holiday abroad with Zahra (Guzeppi) Travel on the Angela Bella (if I am not mistaken) at a cost of less than Lm30.00, which in the early sixties was approximately one month’s salary. But this was for a six or seven day stay in Italy including passage, hotel, coach transportation from Syracuse to Rome and back, and some meals to boot! How things change with time!

I have to thank Oliver Friggieri for recording life in Malta in a book that will refresh many memories and hopefully educate the younger generation that has not had the experience of living in simpler (but tougher) times and therefore cannot possibly appreciate what they have today. The writing style reveals Oliver Friggieri’s skill and his unique way of describing some sticky events without, as much as possible, pointing fingers or stepping on toes. I must also thank Josanne Cassar for giving me the nudge to comment on this excellent book, which I promise to finish reading as soon as time permits. It is an excellent read suitable for all ages, and in parts highly entertaining!

J. Martinelli

ONTARIO, CANADA