When I woke up, I was horrified to see it was snowing! However, it wasn't snowing very hard at that point, so the snow was melting rather than lying. I had called a taxi, as it's quite a short drive to Gatwick, and at that time in the morning, the train is expensive so the cost was about the same. Anyway, it was a relief not to have to hump my suitcase up and down station stairs, as well as being a much shorter and quicker journey; from Oxted, one would have to catch one train into East Croydon, and another back out to Gatwick.
I met my sister at Gatwick, where we had a little retail therapy - I have replaced my broken sunglasses, which should virtually guarantee we see very little sun in Malta! We were dismayed to see the snow was much heavier and was starting to lie, and the plane, when we got onto it, had to be cleared from snow and sprayed with anti-freeze or whatever it is they use. However, once we were above the clouds it was beautifully sunny, so we began to be hopeful.
We landed to bright sunshine, and a beautifully blue sky, though the wind was a little cool. We were able to catch a bus to Sliema, and then it was only a short walk to our hotel, which is right on the sea front. The route from the airport was very busy, full of crowded roads with fast traffic and very built up. The houses are piled up one on another up the hillsides, and there are churches everywhere.
After we had unpacked, we took a walk long along the sea front, though it was getting dark by then and we couldn't see much. We found an interesting pedestrian street on the way to the ferry, which had some amusing statues of people having tea, so we took some photographs of one another joining the party. This photo has neither of us in it though.
After that, we had a meal in a restaurant near our hotel advertising Maltese food - food good, wine awful.
Our hotel wi-fi is stupidly expensive, so this is being posted - I hope - using free wi-fi in the place we are having coffee.
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