"Let me start by saying that I am not really "a diary person". But I keep notes or I would forget half my appointments without them. This Diary is based on those rough notes.

December 2019

In a far-away country, with an eating culture far remote from mine, where they seem to have bats on their dinner menu, some strange illness broke out. It seems that a strain of the Coronavirus has mutated and makes humans seriously sick. Well, they isolated the whole province and we supposed that the virus would stay there.

25th December 2019

I celebrated Christmas with my family in our house in the Bavarian mountains, as we do every year.

Many people were getting sick.  Well Corona viruses cause many deaths every year, nothing so special about this one - or so many of us thought. But this one is not only very contagious, but particularly treacherous; those infected don't get sick immediately, or they may not get sick at all, but they may spread the virus nonetheless.

January 2020

Back in Malta, in time for the prestigious Baroque Festival; bought several concert tickets. Celebrated Burns Night at a Scottish friend's house (I prefer the vegetarian-Haggis), then to a friend's 60th birthday party.

Invited friends over home for dinner. A good friend from Wales came over to stay a few days. All very pleasant.

February 2020

I flew to Brussels where my son and his family live. They were expecting their first child, my first grandson. We took the baby to my family in Amsterdam. My (then) 88-year-old mother was S o o o excited. Her first great-grandson.

March 2020

We all went from Brussels to the house on the mountainside where the air is very pure and Spring is spectacular.

11 March 2020

I was in Munich airport queuing at the gate for a flight to Malta. Just before boarding the guy behind me said: "There is a press conference going on in Castille, when we get to Malta we may have to quarantine, and they are going to close the airport". I asked the gate manager to clarify the situation. He disappeared for about 45 minutes. He returned and said that if we do not absolutely have to be in Malta, we had better not get on the flight. So, I took the train back to the mountains.

May & June

I spent Spring and early Summer there with my family, surrounded by my neighbour's cows. Luckily COVID doesn't affect cows, but we were terrified all the same. We only know pandemics from history books and from the news of very faraway cultures and places.  We don't know how to deal with a real one, arriving uninvited on our doorsteps. We went into isolation; to the supermarket once every 10 to 14 days, wearing not only masks, but also surgical gloves and I  put a disposable shower-cap on hoping for further safety.

We showered and washed our clothing when we arrived back home. Well at least my new grandson had a lot of family time in his first months on this planet.

July 2020

Malta airport reopens. I flew back to Malta on 5 July. Met friends, had a BBQ on the roof terrace, went to art exhibitions. We all thought we have survived the pandemic of the century and that life was back to normal. How wrong we were.

August 2020

Back to the cool Bavarian mountain-side, thus escaping the Maltese heat.

October - December 2021

So back in Malta, got some work done in my old house with the help of a skilled friend. Continued my piano lessons. In the meantime, the COVID situation in the north is getting worse. Hospitals are full beyond their capacity. In Malta the situation is not that bad. We had the International Organ festival and I went to several concerts. We can still meet with a limited number of friends in private houses. Which we did. I organized a number of soirees with music in the house. Friends came and played - all kinds of music. Making music is fun.

By mid-December it became clear to me that Christmas with the family was out of the question, not with my daughter, not with my son and his family. A sad moment when I realized this. I can't remember when we were not together for Christmas. I bought myself some paintings by way of consolation.

January 2021

Still in Malta. Went to several house concerts organized by the Valletta Cultural Agency. Then (surprisingly) we have the 2021 Baroque Festival; went to some concerts. Sad but with great respect I noticed how social distancing is enforced. The Manoel theatre which normally seats over 600 people, now only allows 65 (or so). Surely, they can't be making money on the performances. It is the ideology that Culture must go-on that impressed me.

February - April 2021

Still on the island. First we were being locked out of Malta and now being locked in. So, plenty of time to practice the piano. I also found the time to visit  Maltese artists and get more work done on my century old house in Senglea.

In mid-April I got my first vaccine shot, followed three weeks later by the second shot. I feel at ease being fully vaccinated. We need no further evidence that vaccinating the population helps. I am puzzled by "non-vaxers."  Everybody that can take the vaccine should do so. Some people can't for medical reasons. But we have a social obligation to get vaccinated and thus establish herd immunity.

June 2021

Karl Fiorini did launch his delayed Spring Festival after all. Went to some of the concerts and to watch The Emperor of Atlantic, skillfully staged by Claire Ghigo. A well-chosen piece for the pandemic. This play, written in a Nazi concentration camp, is among my favourites when it comes to contemporary pieces. I could speak for hours about it.

July - August 2021

I hope to spend some time in the mountain house this summer, COVID permitting."