I'm breaking *

Our Cymbidium orchid is spectacular again this year!

I had a flurry of activity this afternoon in the extensive gardens here at Dolores Delargo Towers! It was lovely and sunny, despite the really chilly wind, and I spent a few hours systematically pruning back all our fuchsias, as well as salvias and ferns that hadn't already been tackled. Knackering, it may have been - but it's all getting ready for the summer to come [and, indeed, our clocks go forward tonight and British Summer Time begins tomorrow]!

Meanwhile, on a day of birthdays that include Sir Dirk Bogarde, Sir Michael Parkinson, Dame Flora Robson, Mike Newell, Maxim Gorky, Lord Neil Kinnock, Vince Vaughn, Reba McEntire, Sir Richard Eyre and - ahem - Lady-fucking-GaGa...

...today marks 460 years since the foundation of the fabled walled city of Valletta, capital of "plucky little" Malta!

To mark the occasion, how about their surprisingly faboo Eurovision entry from back in 2021?

Destiny - Je me casse

She's obviously a Lizzo fan.

[Je me casse - "I'm breaking" in French]

Plucky little Malta!

From the BBC:

Malta has become the first European country to ban gay conversion therapy.

The bill against the practice, which aims to "cure" a non-heterosexual person of their sexuality, was voted through unanimously.

Under the new law, anyone who tries to "change, repress or eliminate a person's sexual orientation, gender identity and/or gender expression" will be fined or even jailed.

Professionals will face heftier fines of up to 10,000 euros (£8,450/$10,700).

They could also be jailed for up to a year, according to Malta Today.

The bill also enshrines in law that "no sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression constitutes a disorder, disease or shortcoming of any sort".

Malta was named the best European country for LGBT rights by advocacy group ILGA-Europe in 2015.

To celebrate, how about the Maltese Eurovision Song Contest entry from 2012? It may not have ranked very highly in the official scores, but on the night itself our gang voted it in at sixth place in our "chart". Here's Kurt Calleja and This is the Night...

Kurt Calleja - This is the Night