\nSunday was my sister’s 68th birthday. My brother-in-law will be 75 in January. I do not think either of them look their age. In the early afternoon, we went to the beach so that he could have a dip in the sea:
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![\"DSF4293\"](\"uploads\/2013\/42_1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n42_2<\/strong> 42_3<\/strong> 42_4<\/strong> 42_5<\/strong> The rest of the week’s images are from Malta.<\/p>\n 42_6<\/strong> 42_7<\/strong> 42_8<\/strong> 42_9<\/strong> 42_10<\/strong> 42_11<\/strong> 42_12<\/strong>
\nWhile he was swimming, my sister and I had a beer in one of the bars on the promenade. This little girl was blowing bubbles and running back and forth. Amazing energy:
\n![\"DSF4287\"](\"uploads\/2013\/42_2.jpg\")
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\nIn the evening, we had Irka’s birthday dinner on our terrace. As usual, Cheeta showed a keen interest in the proceedings:
\n![\"DSF4300\"](\"uploads\/2013\/42_3.jpg\")
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\nDuring the previous week I had taken my sister and brother-in-law for a drive in the mountains surrounding Alicante. But I only got around to developing the film on Saturday. This is a view of the landscape from Busot to Jijona, on Fuji Acros 6×4.5 with a red filter:
\n![\"Acros_2013_4_012\"](\"uploads\/2013\/42_4.jpg\")
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\nWednesday morning at the airport:
\n![\"DSF4306\"](\"uploads\/2013\/42_5.jpg\")
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\nI was staying at the Intercontinental in St Julians in what turned out to be a noisy and tacky entertainment district a la English Square in Benidorm. Fortunately, my room was on the 10th floor and the noise did not reach up there. This is the view from the rooftop bar in the hotel. On the left is the Bay Street shopping centre:
\n![\"DSF4321\"](\"uploads\/2013\/42_6.jpg\")
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\nInside the Bay Street shopping centre. The kingdom of kitsch:
\n![\"DSF4320\"](\"uploads\/2013\/42_7.jpg\")
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\nFriday morning, while walking from my hotel to the conference. This is the prevailing commerce in St Julians:
\n![\"DSF4327\"](\"uploads\/2013\/42_8.jpg\")
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\nThe Vikings are not scary anymore. They are a target market:
\n![\"DSF4325\"](\"uploads\/2013\/42_9.jpg\")
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\nSaturday morning in St Julians:
\n![\"DSF4429\"](\"uploads\/2013\/42_10.jpg\")
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\nOn Friday night, after my talk, the conference ended with a dinner at the Casino Maltese, a sort of English gentlemen’s club in the capital Valletta. As part of the entertainment, two ladies were cruising the dining room and drawing caricatures of the diners:
\n![\"DSF4416\"](\"uploads\/2013\/42_11.jpg\")
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\nThe ladies with the sketch pads were more interesting, from a purely visual point of view, than trademark lawyers:
\n![\"DSF4413\"](\"uploads\/2013\/42_12.jpg\")
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![\"DSF4418\"](\"uploads\/2013\/42_13.jpg\")
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