Asking interviewees to describe themselves is one of the staple questions in any interviewer's bag of tricks. So when I meet Adrian Azzopardi, naturally, I ask him to do just that. "I'm shy and have a sweet tooth" comes the prompt reply. I find it hilarious. He had been in my home for a few minutes and had already checked out the decor, sussed out my style and made himself at home on the carpet. 

Leaning forward, elbow propped up against the coffee table, he refused the offer of a floor cushion. Assuring me he was fine, we proceeded to chat about what makes him who he is today. He is stylishly but comfortably dressed. His flat cap is worn at an angle and I wonder if he's having a bad hair day. A quick peek at his Facebook profile shows he has a penchant for caps. They suit him and he wears them well. He's so well turned out that I doubt he'd walk out of his home with his hair in a mess anyway.

He's about to go to a gala night and is terribly excited. He pulls out his phone to show me what he's going to wear. I duly admire the shirt and bowtie but before I can open my mouth he's off again, like a speech train. His enthusiasm is contagious. He tells me how he loves his clothes - buying them, wearing them, planning what to wear. He is as passionate about everything he does as he is about his wardrobe.

Take work, for example. When I called Adrian to fix an interview he told me he worked with children. Just like that. Somewhere in between "is Wednesday convenient" and "perfect, Friday at ten thirty it is" I was told that he is an occupational therapist. Children are his life. He heads the occupational therapists at St Lukes Hospital, and is contentedly part of a great team.

Parents bring their children to see him and he mostly sees children as young as newborns to the age of three. Early intervention, like anything in the medical world, is ideal, he stresses. He does his best to teach the parents too, thus helping to stimulate the child at home. The pride he feels is tangible. He's almost bursting. Not a good idea in that slim-fit shirt he's wearing.

Adrian lost his parents when he was very young. They both died in a space of seven short years leaving what could have been a void were it not for his  older brother Christopher, and his sister, Graziella. She is like a mother to him and he confesses, with an embarrassed giggle, that she does his laundry. They are close, which he loves, as he feels family is very important.

While on the subject of family he tells me about his cousin, Nathalie. She died at the tender age of twelve, after battling cancer. He vividly remembers going to pay his last respects at the mortuary. It was there that he decided he wanted to be a nurse. He wanted to help children. All he knew about healthcare at that age was playing doctors and nurses. After studying to become an occupational therapist his first placing was at Boffa Hospital, in the oncology department. He tells me how happy he was to work there and how one must find happiness in everything they do. I can't say I disagree. 

Adrian continues to tell me how everything makes him happy. "Being happy is a decision, a choice," he says. "And one more of us should make," I think to myself, as he gesticulates and smiles. His eyes shine as he tells me how he enjoys going into work, and how he loves going home. He laughingly tells me he must be hyper. He is an early riser and goes into work an hour earlier than he should, as if starting at 7.30am isn't enough already.

Adrian gets in at half past six, to have a quiet cup of coffee and chat with whoever of his colleagues is in as early as he is. He prepares his room and works through the day, finishing on time. He'd rather start earlier and finish on time, than stay half an hour later, Each to his own, I guess. Homeward bound, he walks all the way there, living conveniently close to his workplace.

There's a new spurt of energy as he tells me how he loves his home. It's not just the house he was brought up in, a house he shared with his parents, but his haven. When younger, he had friends round often, but now he wants it to be peaceful, quiet, a place he can fill with his collections and plants. 

Some afternoons are set aside for filming. As Karmenu in Ic-Caqqufa, he is a different person. He studied drama too, believing that if someone want to do something, they have to go for it. Adrian is terribly excited about playing Karmenu, and nearly busts a gut, letting me know, only, that there is a twist in the tale of the character he plays. Why am I not surprised?

Were it not for this twist, he says, he would not have accepted the part. Conscious as ever of his vocation as a therapist who works with children, and knowing how impressionable they, and even their parents, sometimes are, he chooses his roles carefully.

Does he have time to himself? When he has his alternate Saturday off and no other plans, he heads to Gozo. He decides what clothes to pack a while before he leaves and take photos of them to share with his friends and workmates. He tells me that it is the little things not just big things that make him happy. I could tell that a mile off. Make it many miles actually.

Although he doesn't make a huge amount of money, he is happy with what he has. Adrian's maxim is to be happy with what you have got. He knows that this way, he is rich - richer than many imagine. Judging by the smile in his eyes, I know that he is speaking from the heart.

What other small things do you like? What other little things make you happy? I press him for other answers, hoping for some deep insight. His reply has me in fits of giggles. "I like socks" came the candid reply. Socks? Certainly this stylish sweetheart would need everything he wears to be perfect. And with Adrian it's Socks Appeal. I'm as surprised as you are that he's still single.

 

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