When it comes to birthdays there is always one to celebrate on these small islands. Most are simple affairs: a homemade cake, a few sandwiches and a cup of tea. It is an excuse to get together and invariably enjoyable. Other birthdays are celebrated in a grander style. One such is Pauline Boffa's which is in May. In 2019, before COVID killed all social life, we had celebrated it with an 'English' tea at TerryBerry in St Paul's Bay. The owners have now moved on to much larger and prettier premises in Xemxija hill. The décor is based on a pink theme and the ambience is most pleasant encouraging us to eat and drink more, which we did.
Pauline's daughters had organised this pleasant afternoon, and brought together a few of their mother's relatives and friends.
Mrs Cilia and Mrs Fenech Azzopardi
It was all peace and teapots that afternoon. A few teas which crop up in children's literature came to mind as I stepped into this world of pink and macaroons and scones.
First to mind came C.S. Lewis and his world of Narnia. In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: Tea with Mr Tumnus there is no teaparty but when Lucy stumbles unexpectedly into the magical land of Narnia, she is afraid she will never make it back home. Luckily she meets a friendly Faun named Mr Tumnus, who offers Lucy afternoon tea and helps her find her way.
Judith Kerr's short story, too, involves an animal. InThe Tiger who came to Tea, a tiger suddenly joins Sophie and her mother and gobbles everything in sight. Because that's what you do. Luckily it didn't gobble them too.
Nadia Boffa and Catherine Boffa
Happily there is no fear of this happening here with no wild animals to speak of, although it seems some people manage to import them to bring up as domestic pets on their roof, so you never know. If not a tiger a cheetah might walk into your teaparty or mine. Let's keep our windows closed.
Carmelina Zrinzo Azzopardi, Carmelina Mercieca and Connie Cutajar, one of Pauline’s sisters
No mention of literary tea parties would be complete without perhaps the most famous literary tea party of all time in Alice in Wonderland. This is the tea party of which all others live in the shadow. Mind you in the recent celebrations we had a wonderful video of Queen Elizabeth II having a cup of tea with Paddington Bear... and bringing out a marmalade sandwich from her handbag. What a remarkable lady. Perhaps this, after all, beats all teaparties.
Pauline's husband Perit Joseph Boffa popularly known as Il Profs. He was one of four children of Sir Paul and Lady Boffa. Sir Paul was a well known and much respected medical doctor and Prime Minister from 1947 to 1950. Il Profs was 16 years older than Pauline but the marriage worked out very well indeed.
Pauline had mentioned that her husband and an English consultant had been responsible for the runway in Sierra Leone. "There is a citation and a pair of cufflinks presented by Her Majesty which we treasure."
Pauline with her grand daughter Valentina and a friend
At TerryBerry we caught up with each other's news. I only see some of those lovely people at Pauline's birthdays though others I meet regularly and we keep in touch in several ways.
Us Oldies exchanged news about our ailments, compared number of pills we take, kind of falls we had suffered and their consequences. We kept our bruises under cover, best at a certain age. Inevitably our diets came into the conversation. Even as we scoffed all the delicious food laid out on the table, dishes of which kept on appearing from the kitchen including XL scones. As if this were not enough, bottles of prosecco appeared at the end which sent us on the way back home, merrier than when we had arrived.
Such a lovely afternoon. As soon as I got home I went into a dieting frame of mind. How long is that going to last? So difficult when every celebration here includes food and drink.
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