A Roadside Encounter

Thanksgiving this year was different than last year. No turkey, no long table with twenty or thirty family and friends. Being an American holiday, Thanksgiving isn’t celebrated on Gozo, or anyplace else in the world, except by expat groups and at the American embassies, which in Malta is on the big island.

We spent the day working, shooting a video. We were set up on the side of a winding country road with cameras waiting for our talent to zoom by on a high speed motorcycle when a local guy who looked about as old as the trees lining the road comes walking by and stops to watch the action, as people do on any location shoot.

He asks what we’re doing. Hears our voices and asks if we’re American. We say, ‘Yes.’ He says, ‘Happy Thanksgiving!’ Says, ‘I lived in America, in California, for ten years. Loved it. Wonderful country.’

We talk a little about California, how Gozo landscape is similar, but California doesn’t have the architecture of the past three thousand years scattered around the countryside. We talk about the differences between America and Europe. Both have their virtues and problems but must remain friends and rely on each other.

Then he says, “Great holiday, Thanksgiving. Very American concept. We should all give thanks for what we have, the gift of life.’ Walks away, waving. The bike and its riders roar into our frame and we go back to work.

We had roast duck and a local red wine in a Chinese restaurant for dinner, in the company of two good friends, and felt very thankful.