CHARLES GRECH an appreciation – by Henry Borg Barthet
I first met Charles when my wife worked for him years ago before we got married – or as Charles used to say in ‘19 xejn xejn’.
We then emigrated to Canada until, on my return 20 years ago, we met him again and renewed our acquaintance.
When one reads an appreciation of someone who has passed away it always reads as though the person had no faults and was perfect in every way. Charles had his faults like any other human being but these were outweighed by his better qualities. He was my friend, my mentor, my advisor. This is echoing what Doran said during the funeral mass about her father but there are no truer words to define my relationship with Charles. Charles was always ready to listen, help and give sound advice without being patronizing.
He was a gentleman of the old school, impeccable manners, always ready with a compliment, he had an knack of always remembering what was everybody’s favourite drink and made sure that he was well stocked if you were invited to his place.
Charles’ hobby was food. He was not adventurous in what he ate but had several meals that were his favourite, he had searched for and tried restaurants until he could get his perfect rack of lamb, his ‘pagru’ or ‘pagell’.
Once every so often we used to go out to lunch just Charles and myself. We talked, discussed food, wines and Charles delved into his fantastic memory of names, events and acquaintances, reminiscing about life and persons around his business in Valletta back in the 1960s, and talking about the time that he was building up the business and the intricacies of the wine and spirit business.
My wife and I had the privilege of travelling with Charles and Magda, and we have fond memories of the wonderful places and restaurants that we visited. When we reminisced about a particular meal that we had together, he always finished with the phrase ‘tal-angli’ to describe that course that we had in such and such a place. I am sure that now he is in the right place to enjoy food that is definitely ‘tal-angli’
Charles, I am going to miss you, I do not think that lunch at our favourite place in Marsascala can ever be the same, without you sitting across the table with that expression of enjoyment, when you taste the ‘pagella’ that you had so carefully selected.
I would like to express my condolences to our dear Magda and all the family on behalf of my wife Lilien, and the Mellieha friends, Anna and Edward, Christine and Norman, Margaret and Peter, Veronica and Roger, Jill and Bert.
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