The Storm Before the Calm: Chapter 8

The family routine continued in the meantime. Work during the week, visit family in Gozo in the weekend. The difference was that, after hopping off the ferry, we’d make a quick pit stop at the location to check in on the progress before making our way. And what started out as a Friday drive of enthusiasm and excitement slowly began to turn into a sombre one of low expectation and anxiety once you turn round the corner.

 

Instead of checking every time we went up, we started checking once every three or four visits. For the times we wouldn’t pass by, I would force it into the back of my mind and resist the temptation to swerve the car at the last second onto the road there, to avoid another shroud of disappointment dampening my weekend.

 

The Developer remained resilient, informing us that he was getting updates regularly from the contractors and that we should see the commencement soon. It’s funny – when you open up to those around you, everybody tells you the same thing. “Oh don’t worry, once they start it all comes up in a matter of weeks!”. How reassuring. Let me just go on a tangent here and say, take everything everyone tells you with a pinch of salt. Yes, everyone, including your family and friends. Just because they went through things a certain way, or know a guy whose buddy’s father-in-law’s cousin twice removed witnessed something, doesn’t mean the same will happen to you – for better or for worse.

 

In March 2022, we agreed to remit a payment, but not for the amount originally agreed on. There was still no sign of any work; we couldn’t continue to put ourselves out and get nothing in return. By then we were already more than halfway through the promise of sale. He agreed on what we were willing to give at that moment in time, and we made it clear that with any tangible progress we’d be circle back again.

In the meantime, we started looking for temporary accommodation in Għajnsielem; somewhere to stay for maybe a couple of years to oversee the progress on the house which would also kickstart (restart, in my case) our permanent Gozitan residencies. After viewing some newly furnished cardboard boxes and prison cells, our lucky break came on Mother's Day. Brand new place, decent size, unused appliances, great landlord. It wasn't 100% perfect, but it was temporary, and it was by far the best there was out there.

By the end of June, with just one day left in the scholastic year, we were newly minted Gozitans.

Simultaneously, it was becoming increasingly evident that we would need to extend beyond the promise of sale’s deadline. The Developer, ever so calm, said that another three months should do the trick. We got in touch with the notary, everyone signed off, simple enough. September 2022 it is then.

Finally, almost immediately after, some movement. By early July - mere days after leaving Malta for good - the plot was cleared out. It was all laid bare, at street level, clean and ready for excavation. Things were starting to look up.