Thoughts and happenings from a life on Malta

I do not regret the iPad I bought in August last year. Neither do I regret the good money paid for a gadget that accompanies me nearly everywhere because of its versatility – a repository for my books, magazines and newspapers; movies to watch where I feel most comfortable; accessing the wealth of the world wide web anywhere, anytime; applications which serve a functional purpose; a teacher’s tool in the classroom. However, I am disappointed for having surrendered so completely to its multifarious seductions.

Today, I took a step towards weaning myself off such a manifest magnetic pull. The simple act of pulling out a Moleskine notebook and pencil was enough to leave the iPad staring blankly at me,  its black screen blacking out the temptations that lay behind it. Within minutes of me staring blankly into nothingness, fingers which had grown accustomed to tapping at a keyboard were instead rediscovering the pleasure of scribbling down ideas on lined paper.

The skeleton of a poem that lay undisturbed for many months twitched slightly back to life.

The reason I chose to read this book is because it recounts the journey of the members of the Russian imperial family as they fled Russia, travelling by sea from Yalta to Malta. Though there are few references to my country, they are generally positive. Comments such as, “The Romanovs were elated by the beauty of the island” or “Sofka was very taken with Malta”. The Dowager herself wrote in her diary, “…Xenia and I drove in an open motorcar to lovely San Antonio in the loveliest weather and where the air was full of the scent of orange blossoms as we drove into the garden.”
The main part of the book is written in the style of an on-board diary while the concluding pages deal with the “where and  how all the family members and main characters end up over the years”.
In spite of the wealth they had been born into and their kinship to European royalty, I cannot but realize that a refugee is always a refugee, pining for a return to one’s home.

I rate this book a 7/10.