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Heathcliff it's me Kathy I've come home let me in your window.....
I have had lots of moments of pleasure - the fireworks festival was amazing - so good I went to the one in marsaxlokk and bugibba - did I mention I detest fireworks lol but something about theses were amazing
I think swimming in the sea is  a great free pleasure you can do all year round (well if your brave )

I would also rather hear about good moments and not all the negative people seem to dwell on!  Our family is not moving to Malta expecting to live in some paradise,  it is one of the few options we have for a home to keep our family together.

Rob you make me smile.you help so many people and you just sung Kate Bush hahahaha Bff now hehehe all yours babushka hehehe 😙

I've gone right on a kate a thone I may cry hahahaha

I hate the sun or the sun hates me hahaha prickly heat ect but jack is 60 in 7 years let's get busy living

Hi Gernats,
Interesting topic. But difficult to pin-point. It's so easy to talk about the negative things as they stick out, they annoy us and we just have to talk about them to somebody and let it out. If ones' not careful, could easily focus on them a little bit too much and end getting caught up in a viscous circle. We also see this in tourism, It is well known in the industry that an unhappy client will repeat his misadventures to ten different ears wanting to listen, while a happy one will only tell it to tree! Apart from this I think every body has different values for different things and what I see as a good moment is a bore to some or completely indifferent if not negative to others. Which could make this topic go in all directions.

Having said that and speaking for myself while returning to your question, I have about 98% of my time in Malta which I consider good moments against 2% bad.
This is because first of all I am a positive person and because they mostly cover simple everyday things within my Maltese lifestyle. From an early morning walk, through an afternoon siesta and a late night barbecue with friends while watching the glare of moonlight on the calm sea with my wife; And everything else one can imagine in between; down at the local "gazin" having a pint with the mates, chatting with complete strangers at a bus stop as if we're pals, a fishing day at the sea with the family, cycling on Sunday or a day at the horse races, a classic music concert or a Maltese play,  a winter evening playing poker at home, being invited to a local wedding where we're unconsciously made to remember the Godfather film, the fetas and all sorts of cultural and fun activities regularly organised, not to forget the humorous and expansive attitudes of some individuals or listening to music while blocked in a traffic jam, or simply watching people go by at a café terrace! The list is endless so I'll stop here and let everybody else continue with their own ideals, values...and attitudes.

Now if it's anecdotes you're looking for? That's another story, or should I say stories. In fact I have had quite a few down the years. One day I'll make a collection with some close friends of mine and we'll write a book. Maybe one day.

Wow Mike (kate bush pun intended hahaha) that was beautiful," watching the glare of moonlight on a calm sea with my wife" so lovely, everything you have said sounds amazing and just what I needed to hear after reading so many negative posts in my searches. If I get half of your moments of pleasure I'll be a lucky lady,
Thank you,
Natalie

Natalie I guarantee it.
The things I wrote about here are just a glimpse of what Malta has to offer. But remember whatever is out there, happiness comes from within, and like for every thing in life; first of all it's all in the attitude, honesty and being objective, then your imagination and willingness. As the English say "Life is how you make it".
All romance aside, and in a more serious tone, I nevertheless advise you to stay away as much as possible from "certain" gloom and doom expatriate circles. In fact these are very few compared to the quantity of foreigners living here, still can be very influential, the problem is you only need a handful to start a negative whirlpool spin where anybody close by gets sucked in, especially vulnerable newcomers, whom in turn start focusing on the negative themselves. These people have left their glass houses for whatever reason, completely forgot about any negative aspect of life back home, come to and live in our glass houses here and focus on our negativities like never! Not that these negativities do not exist, although in a much lesser way than some want to make believe. But when they do focus on them, a karma is created (fashion word), so they start noticing even more negativity, and then they heat each other up and it gets even worse, this goes on until they go crazy, LOL. I tell you if you chose this road, you're surely to leave Malta within a year, completely disgusted of Malta and the Maltese. If you stay you'll get a breakdown by the second year and probably shoot yourself in the head by the third! (Just exaggerating a little,  ) This is not something I have invented, but actually was made conscious to me by two wonderful English friends of mine and expatriates who avoid the "mill" like the plague! And for good reason.
My advice for you is to find positive out-looking people of whatever national who have learnt how to laugh at life and know how to extract good out of an occasional otherwise annoying situation. Make Maltese friends (very important), learn how to live the Maltese way (We know best in Malta, I assure you), be relaxed and enjoy the simple things in life, they're everywhere in Malta, of course along with all the other extraordinary activities and events that are available. There are dozens of all sort of things going on all year round. Mix with the Maltese, get involved with the ones of "your milieu, your type of circles (this is also very important)", they're all here if you know where to look, show respect, get accepted, the Maltese are a happy noisy lot (snobs apart) and although might seem somewhat rough and a little bit too loud for some, are really a bunch of overgrown children, indisciplined, free, fun loving teddy bears. Learn to understand their ways, to go by them and I guarantee more doors will open to you than you would ever have imagined possible in this egoistic modern world of ours. You'll get tips and acquaintances of all kinds to make your life easier. And if you ever manage to speak Maltese, then you get to benefit even more. Understand the hows and whys, our story, history, politics, humour and God knows what else. Malta is not just another island but a nation island, proud and insular, complicated and simple, but also complete in our very own way. It's a whole world that will open to you....if you deserve it! By that I mean if you go by it the right way. If it doesn't then you're doing something wrong.
I must admit, a rather difficult task living in a foreign country with locals compared to living amongst expatriated in a foreign country, but that will be your challenge and reward if you accept it.
Having said all this, do not be naive, Malta is still part of the worlds and not wonderland, you have all sorts everywhere, and although statistically, criminally speaking Malta is one of the safest places to be, and also amongst the countries with the lowest car fatalities ( *) keep your eyes open and your guards up. Genuine Maltese friends will be be more than happy to help you and will come in very handy when you need advice about the right ways and channels to go about things.
Wishing you all the best for your adventure here.
Mike
*http://ec.europa.eu/transport/road_safety/specialist/statistics/index_en.htm

Thank you Mike,
My husband and I moved to France before the year in province came on telly, we couldn't speak french but we're taken in as part of the family by our neighbours and as a village we went on beanos every year to different villages, hilarious times. Similar and very funny times when we moved to rural Ireland,  I'm not worried about fitting in and I think we are going to go for Gozo as after research seems to be more in the thick of the culture but with space to breath. Thank you so much for sharing your thought.
Natalie

Oh and we are starting to learning Maltese so hopefully in 2 years we will be able to get by or know what people are saying about us if they think we just speak english hahahahaha really just to help our daughter for school and be respectful to the country we are moving to ☺

Mike, would love to meet you for a night out when we arrive.  On me 😊

Why not indeed Jasminj, but it will have to be sometime around September now as I'm off to France, and be back sometime by then.