One summer in Gozo, Alison and I went to the Town Hall in Victoria, the island’s capital, where there was a sale of paintings by a local artist. The artist, an elderly English lady, was present at the sale, flitting from one of her paintings to the next, ready to answer questions from prospective buyers. Her father, a distinguished member of the Royal Academy, had been a well-known artist in his time back in England. She in turn had graduated from the Royal Academy School, but had never reached the level of her father’s success. To be honest, I couldn’t be doing with the woman’s posh voice and mannerisms, but when she and Alison began to talk it was as if a mother had suddenly found her long-lost daughter. It was fascinating to watch – the former doyenne of the Academy in London deep in conversation with the former waif from Oxgangs, Edinburgh. Anyway, we came away from the sale with these two paintings. The one on the left is called Xlendi Gold, named after the little village on Gozo where the artist lived. The one on the right is another scene from the same village. Both are now part of Alison’s Legacy.