Ode to colour

I love colours… In secondary school my classmates used to call me “fluo Amy”, because of my love for bright yellow, orange, red and pink tops. My fashion sense has slightly improved since, but my love for colours remains.

From up high, through the tiny windows of a plane, Malta looks like a pale yellow spot in the deep blue sea. On descending, however, green fields appear, surrounded by meticulously constructed rubble walls and colourful flowers covering the rocks, which boast a vast colour palette, from dark grey to soft beige.

The sky is a magical shade of blue and at sunrise and sunset the sea surface becomes a painter’s easel. Walking the dog in the small garden down the road overlooking the beach at 6 am just makes me feel alive. I love the smells, the silence, that sense of tranquillity… and the colours of the water, the sky, the soil and the plants.

The balconies of traditional Maltese townhouses are painted red, green, yellow, brown, black or blue. The same goes for the doors in Mdina, which are famous for their unusual doorknobs. But what about the new face of Malta, those modern apartment blocks sprouting up on every corner? Well, they too bring a colourful touch to this tiny island with their colourful façades.

Village “festas” decorate the sky with flashy fireworks all summer. A trip to the Sunday fish market in Marsaxlokk, where brightly painted wooden boats adorn the sea front, is a feast for the eyes. A walk around the island instantly brings a smile to your face, even on a rainy day.

Why this ode to colour? Because we often forget what truly makes life beautiful… those seemingly irrelevant bits and pieces of daily life that catch our eye and linger in our minds, those sights that remind us of our childhood, when a simple red flower in a field could fill us with awe…