It has to be decent TV. The Malta channels are pathetic!

agree on TV, also real ale, central heating, decent roads

I don't think "proper" bacon is an issue in Malta, we buy much better bacon in the butchers shops in Sliema than you can get in most places in the uk.

Regards
Sliema2

Decent roads? You mean roads that you can't move on because of all the traffic 7 days a week.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Sunday shopping. That's what really ruined the UK. 7 days of constant traffic and noise. Still, many people there have nothing else to do than spend a day in "the shopping mall".

Hmmm,

After reading the very few responses to this thread I don't think ex-pats miss much - do they?

Malta the happiest place on the planet!

Trev

Well, having lived here for 4/5 months with 3 children I certainly have a few things that I would gladly bring from the UK!

How about decent water pressure for a start?
Clean air?
Blue Flag beaches!
Not getting stung by jellyfish in the sea.
Reliable supply of groceries - very hit and miss in most supermarkets in Malta.
Adequate refrigeration of goods in Malta supermarkets - the number of times I've brought home a packet of mouldy cheese!
Milk that stays fresh for more than 2 days
Safe buses
Better roads
Equal prices for all customers
Sewage that is treated before it enters the sea
Water with safe levels of nitrites and chlorides
More recycling facilities
No Mughtab Landfill and it's associated stink!
Regulation of International Schools
Cheap Flights

And as for bacon? Give me a pack of Waitrose dry cure bacon any day!

Mind you there are several things that the UK shares with Malta including the exorbitant prices charged to enter what few tourist attractions are on the island.

Despite all this, Malta could be a superb destination. They really need to get their act together to reverse the falling numbers of tourists, deal with the environmental problems and improve public services!

I have been here over 20 years so as my membername sugests, I'm not sure if I am an ex pat or a local

Agree with the TV - Maltese channels rubbish. The only local programme I watch is "Tista tkun Int" even though husband and son laugh at me.
We have digitial TV waste of money mainly. BBC Prime should be renamed BBC repeats, although Eastenders is a good cure for homesick ex pats. We have the sports package but watched most of the World Cup games on big screens at pubs.
Agree with gozomark on the central heating, real ale (best served in a real lovely old English pub) decent roads. Mind you, they did manage to build a few decent roads just prior to the CHOGM that have made the route from Golden Bay to Valletta and the airport very smooth
I sometimes miss a garden with a lawn, English parks and rivers - places like Christchurch in Dorset or the bridge over the Thames between Windsor and Eton. Eating a cup of seafood bought from a kiosk while walking along an English beach, the Maltese beaches are not big enough
Yes, the water is not the greatest in Malta both the pressure and the quality, here in Attard it is probally the worst, but could be an improvement on the I grew up in an area of West London that had recycled water. Rumour was the water you were drinking had already passed through 6 people before you.
Sunday Shopping?????? There is the market at Marsaxlokk.
Shopping in general is a vast improvement to when I first arrived here, I will not bore you with what was not available in the shops!! Perhaps I have adapted, but I find everything I need these days. We eat mostly local fresh produce and don't eat much imported prepacked food.
Sorry, can't really comment on international school, have only known a few people that have sent kids there and they seemed happy enough. Most people I know, used the regular local schools of the kind where I sent my son.
Like Sliema2 I quite like bacon bought from the local butcher shop. My butcher is from Manchester and his Attard shop is always filled with ex pats.
Yes, cheap flights would be nice - Malta is an island

Interesting about the recycled water. I read somewhere that all the water on earth is the same since the planet was created, it just goes round in one continuous loop - the water cycle.

I amazed my class once by telling them that their cup of water would probably once have been drunk by dinosaurs!

You can't expect Malta to be the same as home (wherever home is), it would be pretty boring if it was. Part of the interest of being an expat is adapting to local circumstances, but the question was about the things expats missed most.

When I was in Malaysia, I and my friends used to yearn to have the chance to shop in an ordinary UK supermarket. Sounds a bit sad, but it's sometimes the little things that you miss. The things you take for granted.

Perhaps a new question could be - What do you dislike about Malta? maybe dislike is too strong a word for some of you maltophiles out there, but it's good to have some sort of balanced commentary don't you agree?
Perhaps What would you change about Malta? might elicit some interesting answers.

I haven't been in Malta more than 6 months yet so am still adapting to a new lifestyle. But I find it is too easy for some people to become defensive, particularly if they have chosen Malta as their long term home and have brought up families here or have relatives on the island. It's the same all over the world, nowhere is perfect, you find somewhere that best suits how you want to live and mostly it's a matter of compromise anyway.

For myself, halfway up a mountain in Switzerland would be ideal!

Susan

I agree with most of what Susan has mentioned but would point out that where I stay in Mellieha, the water pressure is good also the local supermarket 'Shoppers' sells back bacon as good as any english store However it does sell out pretty quick! also the milk has always been fresh and ok for up to a week.

ingliza,

I believe I know your Butcher, ask him did he work at Gabbots Farm in Swinton.

the thing i miss most is the Palm Court thread

There's a chat thread at the top of the page for off topic chat..........you can discuss and banter in that thread.