![]() At the push of a button a surprise came along. Favorite phrase of the waiter, let us surprise you we conjure up something. The restaurant which had an ingenious breakfast ready in the morning, has sweetened the 5 days every morning and conjured a smile on my face. Whether in the room or on the rooftop terrace. Fresh high quality food that invited to dine. As well as the room service which made my heart beat faster. The mini bar was equipped with everything the heart desires. The absolute highlight at Don Pietro, is the sauna with a mini hammam area which rounded off my stay perfectly. The bed with its heavenly mattress and different types of pillows, let me fall asleep in seconds every night. Fantastic fabrics, great woods and high quality marble and stone were used in the room. A tastefully decorated designer hotel room with sauna in the southern European / Arabian mix style. A very friendly and courteous welcome and reception as befits a 5 star hotel.Īfter a quick check-in, I was allowed to move into my wonderful executive room "Don Pietro". My trip to Valletta started with a wonderful welcome at the reception of the hotel. I certainly hope Guze will not go down that route. Note: As there are several other Micheline Guide and a Micheline Bib restaurants in the area, our only advice for those is 'Skip them.' Trust us most if not all feel like eating at a canteen. We were left with so much joy and surprise. Between the two of us, we tried almost everything on the menu, and I can happily say that for what it is everything was fantastic. The wine list was thoroughly explained and the host paired our meals perfectly. If a menu has more than four choices per section, be weary. The menu was short and sweet, exactly what you would want and expect. The host was attentive and aware of the entire room. We were taken to the second part of the room where there were three intimate double tables. When we arrived there was gentle music playing, the 'family' size six seater table in the front was already taken, the guests greeted us as we entered. The setting was intimate, the food was fresh and tender, the service was impeccable! The Next Crossing - Best Places for Food in Valletta | Traditional Food, Pub Nosh, Boozy Bites.FoodBlog - Check out these Valletta trattorias for a homely Italian-style meal! □.TravelAwaits - My 7 Favorite Restaurants In Romantic Valletta, Malta.DineWineLove - The Best Bars in Valletta 2021 | Top 9 Bars in Valletta, Malta | DWL.Things To Do - Valletta Food Guide: 10 Must-Eat Restaurants & Street Food Stalls in Valletta.The Phoenicia Malta - A Food Lover’s Guide to Valletta - Holiday in Malta.World Travel Guide - What to eat and drink in Valletta.olivemagazine - Valletta foodie guide: where locals eat and drink.MICHELIN Guide - Valletta MICHELIN Restaurants - theMalta.Welcome Center Malta - 5 Of The Best Restaurants in Valletta. ![]() - 10 Places Locals Love to Eat in Valletta – Go Guides.Spacehuntr - Best Restaurants In Valletta For A Company Dinner. ![]()
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![]() “Maybe a return to these numbers isn’t such a bad thing,” another builder commented. “We’ve been through this before we’ll go through it again,” they figured. While some younger professionals struggled to find their compasses, veteran builders who had been through previous recessions took the situation in stride. “The problem is, do we compare to the absolutely bonker days of 2005 and early 2006, when the market was just hyper? Or do you compare it to 20, before the housing boom?” one builder asked in 2007. Others hired contractors to raze relatively new pools and replace them with something to their exact specifications.īut in later in the decade, many builders began to see sales drop and realized they couldn’t count on their companies to continue growing by double digits each year from sheer demand.īusiness owners tried to put the situation in perspective. Meanwhile, high-end installations reached new realms of extravagance, with some wealthy homeowners even purchasing lots next door to their houses just to accommodate large, elaborate waterscapes. Middle-class families were signing on to $50,000 projects, with some exceeding $100,000. Those who a few years earlier would have bought aboveground pools now purchased entry- to mid-level ingrounds. So steady were housing starts that some pool contractors began to work exclusively with home builders.īecause of the easy credit and high equity, everybody moved up a notch in their pool and spa purchases. New-home construction remained at historically high levels, and with it, pool digs. On top of this, financial institutions became increasingly freewheeling, valuing homes at 100 percent of inflated prices and offering mortgages with little to no down payments. In fact, the country had entered a new era where home values seemed to endlessly skyrocket, offering previously unknown equity to consumers. But by the end of 2003, the industry was in fine form. The market dipped briefly after the dot-com bubble burst, followed directly by the events of 9/11. Builders were king, and home-owners were opening their minds and wallets to more and more products - not only elaborate waterfeatures and vanishing edges, but outdoor kitchens, fireplaces and other amenities. Ups and downsĪt the turn of the century, the economy was chugging along, and carrying the industry with it. Like it or not, this industry would be changed forever. In the second chapter, not only did the industry shrink like the rest of the construction segment, but it favored service companies, retail and renovation. During the first part, the pool market expanded into a builder-dominated gargantuan barely able to keep up with demand. Strangely, the years from 2000 to 2010 were almost like two decades - the one before and after the fall of 2008. And the World Wide Web was graduating from a novelty into a legitimate business platform. Yet business owners of all stripes continued to enjoy an economic growth spurt that had started in the late 1990s. And a relatively obscure phenomenon called entrapment was gaining public attention. On a less positive note, the National Spa & Pool Institute was still trying to find its way after being forced into bankruptcy by the landmark Meneely diving case. ![]() Meanwhile, service technicians were familiarizing themselves with increasingly sophisticated technologies. ![]() Retailers and builders alike were broadening their products and services to include virtually all backyard amenities. The industry was still honing its skills in pool and spa design, with the increasing use of vanishing-edge and perimeter-overflow vessels and various types of waterfeatures, even on vinyl-liner and fiberglass pools. 1, 2000, wasn’t perceptibly different than Dec. Really compelling, vicious music.The decade started out quietly enough. It’s a d-beat marauder, again dominated by Jonker’s ghastly vocals and lit up from within by scalding guitar leads. The second track, “Festering Slumber”, is much shorter but no less riveting. But Jonker’s reverberating vocals may be the most memorable aspect of the song - they’re both horrifying and electrifying, evil and bestial. The guitar work is rich and varied, and never less than decimating. “Graves Disease” is utterly ghoulish, a dynamic, 7+ minute monster that fully justifies its length. Entrapment’s music has a very different sound from Pyre’s - with a more rancid, radioactive, nails-on-the-chalkboard sound, raw like a bleeding wound. According to Metal-Archives, this split was preceded by three demos and a 2012 full-length album (The Obscurity Within…). You will have a hard time believing this when you hear Entrapment’s two songs, but this band appears to be a one-man project (at least for recording purposes), the one man being Michel Jonker from Groningen in The Netherlands. 2 supreme acts combining forces and spewing forth true classic metal of death! Part of the solution Music Minds Matter offers is the provision of regular peer support groups, which anyone working in the industry can join free via Zoom. ‘We actually find that there are more similarities than differences in terms of the factors impacting on individuals’ mental health,’ says Joe. For those behind the scenes, the picture is much the same. For musicians, factors like the unpredictable and sometimes isolating nature of the work, long periods on the road, financial difficulties and lack of routine can all exacerbate the problem. However, Joe says that a number of sector-specific issues contribute to mental health outcomes in the music industry. ‘Our recent survey showed that close to half surveyed said they are ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ concerned they will be forced to leave the industry, and nearly nine in ten believe difficulties with their mental health are currently affecting their work.’ With 68 percent of survey respondents also reporting that their mental health is worse now than it was before the pandemic, it’s clear that COVID has had a major part to play on all this. ![]() 'The cost-of-living crisis, alongside other factors including the ongoing impact of the pandemic and Brexit, is having a brutal impact on the UK’s musicians,’ he says. Joe Hastings, head of Music Minds Matter at Help Musicians, says that the increased service demand at the charity has been driven by ongoing instability across the UK economy at large. ![]() Reflecting this surge, costs for Music Minds Matter will hit £1million for the first time in 2022. So far this year, calls have increased a further 34 percent. The charity noticed an enormous increase in calls to the Music Minds Matter helpline during the pandemic, with a 118 percent uptick in service users in 2021. ![]() 'The cost-of-living crisis, alongside other factors including the ongoing impact of the pandemic and Brexit, is having a brutal impact on the UK’s musicians.' So the time is right to set up Music Minds Matter as a single-focus charity.’ And, sadly, coming out the other side is proving just as challenging, if not more. Musicians and those who work in music have been through an incredibly difficult time during the pandemic. The move also takes the service out from under the musician-specific remit of Help Musicians, allowing Music Minds Matter to support anyone in the industry with mental health concerns.Īt the time, Help Musicians chief executive officer James Ainscough said, ‘Since Music Minds Matter launched in 2017, we have seen the need for mental health support continue to grow year-on-year. Starting life as a fundraising campaign after the death of Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington, the service operated a 24/7 support line for both musicians and those behind the scenes.Įarlier this year the service was restructured into a single-focus charity, ensuring that any fundraising activity focused on mental health provision will exclusively fund that support. Within the music industry, these interventions can be absolutely vital in ensuring the wellbeing of artists and crews, allowing the show to go on and the industry to thrive.īack in 2017, Help Musicians launched Music Minds Matter in response to what the charity considered a mental health crisis in music. One thing that improving mental health access can do is put in place a first line of response to these kinds of broad-view issues. Mental illness is just one factor that can affect the more holistic view that is mental health. Beyond this, saying ‘mental health’ when we mean mental illness tends to obscure conditions with more complex symptoms such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD or OCD. ![]() While the term ‘mental health’ has helped destigmatise conditions such anxiety and depression, it doesn’t refer to them alone. Mental illnesses can affect a person’s mental health, but like physical health, mental health impacts everybody, whether they have a diagnosable condition or not. While the terms ‘mental health’ and ‘mental illness’ are sometimes used interchangeably, the two are not the same. ‘Whenever I’m trying to keep it hidden because I don’t want it to affect how people view me that much, I think of how much it’s helped me to hear people be so open about it,’ she told M in August 2022. Just this year, artists including Rina Sawayama, Pale Waves and Phoebe Green have all released albums addressing mental health concerns, with Phoebe also testifying to the importance of openness around these issues. Within the music industry in particular, lifestyle factors and irregular work conditions can contribute to a unique vulnerability. In recent years, we have seen positive change through a culture of increasing openness and awareness, but decades of stigma carry a long legacy. |