Sliema Ponderings.

Trip Start Sep 15, 2007

Trip End Oct 17, 2007

Loading Map

Map your own trip!

Map Options

Show trip route

Hide lines

Flag of Malta Sliema, Malta
Friday, September 28, 2007

Something I didn't go into too much detail about yesterday was that I met a girl on the rocks where I normally swim. She is a Russian lawyer who lives in Moscow and is studying English law in Malta, this is her 6th time here as she returns each summer for both a holiday and opportunity to improve her English. Her name is Olga (pronounced "Olega" apparently but I have not said it well enough for her liking yet!) and she is really nice. She had never met an Australian before and I only had some rudimentary knowledge of Russia, most of it historical information from early 20th century. Anyway we hit it off and spent a few hours in the afternoon swimming and chatting. We planned to meet again today and once again I really enjoyed her company and had a great time.

Before I came to Malta I imagined I would meet a lot of Maltese girls however the parts of Malta where I spend most of my time are filled with foreigners either on working or learning holidays. It is an amazing mix and I am really enjoying meeting so many different people, it is pure coincidence that the majority are very pretty girls, I think

Sliema Fisherman.

. :)

Today I had a lot of time to think to myself and both the time I had spent with Christina and also Olga the last few days had lead me to ponder relationships. Some of you may know that I have designs to write a book on the subject some day and I have already made a decent start on it. It is a subject that I have a lot of interest in and today I decided to dump my thoughts in my journal. This is a warning so that you can move to the next day if you don't want to endure my ramblings! The content below has little to do with my trip and a lot to do with me being a hopeless romantic! :) So here it goes...

I don't pretend to know everything about relationships but the subject certainly intrigues me as many of you know. I am someone who has enjoyed the highs and lows of relationships as the vast majority of people in the world have, and it is both the feelings of absolute joy and then utter despair at both ends of the relationship spectrum that remind us that we are alive. Something that is analogous to relationships and one that I like is sunny days and stormy weather.

If it never stormed you would not have a good appreciation for the sunny days.

When I was young I subscribed to the theory that there is one person out there for each one of us that is a perfect partner. Since then I have grown to believe that people change dramatically over time as life's challenges shape and mould them into something different as the years go by. So yes perhaps there is a perfect partner out there for each of us, however it could very well be a different person who is that "perfect partner" at any point in time

Pretty cool guy.

. No wonder it is so difficult to find that person! So not only do I have to actually meet her, it has to be at the time where we are both right for each other. i.e. not in relationships with other people, in an environment conducive to a good initial meeting, both in a positive frame of mind, oh and both attracted to each other, that is often important. Then you have the non-trivial factors of any age differences, where each person might live and whether there are any cultural and/or religious barriers. I have been accused in the past of placing too much thought on this subject and perhaps this digression from my travel journal is testament to that. Maybe I should just be less a perfectionist and stop my search for what I perceive to be a perfect life partner and be happy with the next girl willing to take me. Ok that is not entirely serious but you get my point.

I guess at the end of the day I am not sure if I am yet to meet my perfect partner, or whether I have met her 5 separate times now and have stuffed it up each time! When I think back through the years I do think there have been instances where I was very close to happiness with a life partner but for whatever reason it simply did not happen. But I am a lover of life, a lover of family, a lover of friendships and a lover of hope. And yes I am 36 and been through the wars at times but I have hope for the future and look forward to finding that life partner. After all, it is the rest of our lives I am talking about here, so at what point in time that journey starts is not important. The important thing is getting to that start line with her...

If you have read this far I would like to applaud you, thank you and also apologise! I put some considerable thought into not including this section in my journal but it had dominated my thoughts today so I am going to just tell it like it is in my journal.

The fact you are reading this journal at all means that you are special to me and have a place in my life that I am grateful you hold. I hope you will forgive my indulgences today, I promise to get back on program with the journal tomorrow. But today I want to share what I have written with you.