Travelling also means more time to read. Travelling long haul means even more time as one waits for connections and loiters in airports consuming far too many cappuccinos. Long before the travel date is due I take a good look at my book cases and pick up a couple of books which I would have bought ages before and which have remained on my literary conscience.
It seems particularly appropriate to mention Edmund De Waal's bestseller The Hare with Amber Eyes in the year in which we are celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Holocaust. I made it a point of watching the moving ceremony which took place in Auschwitz, on television. Present were a few survivors of the Holocaust, the youngest a 79-year-old. One gentleman who spoke very movingly said that he hoped that those who had died in the Holocaust had not died in vain and that their children would not have to endure what they had endured. It was appropriate to say this as European Antisemitism still exist. Just consider how, 70 years later, French Jews are moving out of France to Israel. I am sorry I could not attend the Holocaust Memorial Day organized by the Honorary Consulate General of the Czech Republic, Tonio Casapinta and that of the Slovak Republic in Malta, Godwin Bencini , under the patronage of Dr George Vella. An excellent initiative.
The copy of De Waal's book was sent to me by friends after a visit to Malta. They wrote on the title page: "Dearest Marie you will love this...." How right they were. It was a bestseller and you must all have heard of it even if you haven't seen a copy let alone read it. On the whole I am more interested in the lives of people than in novels although I have read many in my long life. This is a sort of 'twilight of the Gods' memoir of the author's family. The Ephrussi family was a European Jewish banking dynasty who started off in Odessa (grain) and went on to expand their business in Vienna and Paris, St Petersburg and London. The family was a major force in grain, shipping and banking. They lived in splendour . In Vienna they lived in the monumental Palais Ephrussi, on the Ringstrasse, not far from the offices of Sigmund Freud . There they employed 17 servants. In Paris they lived in another palace, the Hôtel Ephrussi, 81 rue de Monceau later on moving to an even more splendid home. They were patrons of the Arts and great collectors. Several were intellectuals. Proust modelled his hero Charles Swann in part after the Parisian connoisseur Charles Ephrussi, patron of Manet, Degas and Renoir. Charles was even included -- in the background, wearing an incongruous top hat and black suit -- in Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party. Edmund De Waal, himself a distinguished ceramist, is the great grandson of Viktor, the head of the family in the first half of the 20th century.
The family also had a flair for languages a skill which was greatly encouraged and which served them well. Everyone in the family spoke fluent German, French, English and Russian. But douceur de vivre is often a short period in our lives and rarely lasts for long. It was the same for the Ephrussi family. The Nazis invaded Vienna and as we know only too well, the Jews are targeted. A mob ransacked the family's apartments and heaved an exquisite Louis XVI desk through an upper-story window. The Gestapo beat and harangued the elderly Viktor until he signed away his home, property and business. We are all familiar with the sickening treatment of the Jews but reading about them once again is still painful. A few members of the family managed to escape with their life. But it was indeed, the twilight of the Gods. All that survived of all those vast riches was the collection of netsuke - 264 little Japanese figurines - carvings of animals, plants and people no larger than the palm of a hand and carved out of ivory or boxwood. Charles had bought them in Paris in 1870 and they had been passed on from one member of the family to another. The collection is now in the author's possession. They were saved by one of the servants who hid the collection in her mattress.
This is the story of how even the beautiful and fabulously rich can crack - or as fortunately happened in some cases - managed to survive, penniless, starting a new life elsewhere and overcoming their losses. It can be sometimes difficult to keep track of all the people mentioned and who is related to whom - even if there is a family tree at the beginning of the book. But do read it and persist. Do not give up. It is a wonderful human story.
I did a considerable amount of reading with little Theo who loves his bedtime stories. But it was mostly books about trains and trucks - favourites are dump trucks, tow trucks and garbage trucks. As it snowed we were on the lookout for snow ploughs which did not feature anywhere in his enormous book of trucks. On holiday in Malta he is now well acquainted with the crane . He sometimes watches them from my balcony. Sliema is full of them. Since I had two daughters and no sons all this is new to me. They enjoyed reading La Comtesse de Segur books and fairy tales. He enjoys nursery rhymes as well but I have banished 'Rock-a-by baby from the tree top'. I never noticed how gruesome it is until now. It is the same with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. What an idea to put into a child's head: poisoning your stepmother with an apple.
The Merry Widow at St James Cinema
How many times have I seen this operetta I cannot say. It is cheerful and lively although I cannot say that I know many merry widows, least of all myself. It is the first time that I heard it sung in English - and the script is witty. There is a repeat performance on 15th March. I loved it and it makes a change from disappearing planes and Ebola. An excellent form of escape.
Sister Agnes
During the Christmas period I usually ask you to send a contribution to the good Sister Agnes who looks after so many refugees at the Good Shepherd Convent in Balzan. Now in her '80s she is a great believer in Providence - and this means you and me. She told me she urges the refugees to do five things: 1) Pray to God for help 2) Not to do anything which might result in a bad conduct certificate 3)Try to find a job 4) Eat to keep healthy 5) Not to linger in their thoughts on what has happened to them in the past and to sleep well.
Please send her something, no matter how small: Sister Agnes Azzopardi, Good Shepherd Convent, Idmejda Street, Balzan. Many thanks.