“In 1992, when I was 15, my father bought me a 1968 Triumph Herald 13/60. Vella’s son Roderick followed his father not only into the family business, but also in absorbing his classic car enthusiasm. In the post-war period, the company faced stiff competition from other French car manufacturers who were producing more practical models, and eventually it had to close its doors in 1955. The initial LR2 model was significantly modified to the more robust LR4 version, which came off the production line in 1938. Lucien Rosengart was a French engineer who started producing small cars in 1928 on licence based on the English Austin Seven. However, a deal was struck, and a few weeks later, this French rarity – in immaculate, original condition and also maroon coloured – arrived in Malta. He offered to take him for a drive on the Monday, but Vella was departing on Sunday. Plucking up courage, he rang the bell and soon he was having a lengthy conversation with the owner, who informed him that this was a rare 1938 Rosengart LR4 that he wanted to sell. Eventually, he was directed to a nearby building. On the last day of the holiday, Vella decided to take action and stopped a number of passersby to enquire about the owner of this car. There was a notice with a telephone number on the windscreen. In a quiet street off their hotel, he observed an unusually old car, partly parked on the pavement. Some years ago, Vella and his wife Maria were holidaying in Nice, France. I only drove it at the weekend, and whenever I was caught in the rain, I would return to the garage and wash it immediately, even if it was after midnight.” The Peugeot remains in mint condition to this very day. The maroon-coloured car was the apple of my eye. “My first vehicle was a hardly-used 1971 Peugeot 304. Consequently, when the dust has settled down at the end of a long, hard day, Joseph Vella and his son Roderick leave the family quarry in Naxxar and head to the father’s residence in Mellieha, to spent some quality time enjoying their collection of classic cars. The chances are if you did stay at your sister’s and she was called into work, it would happen again and become a regular thing.Working in a quarry is no mean job. If you stay quiet, you have to live with it. If you come clean, she’ll either dump her husband and your relationship will never be the same, or she’ll stay and cut you out.
This might be one of those times, if you can guarantee it won’t happen again. I’m not condoning what either of you did, but sometimes ignorance is bliss.
What’s worrying is that you can’t stop thinking of him. I think you know in your own heart that if you have any chance of having a relationship with your sister in the future that you a) can’t revisit it b) you can’t stay the night at hers again and c) you can’t tell her what happened. You’re also married yourself, so you’ve cheated on your own hubby as well as betrayed your sister. However, it’s just terribly sad that you’ve chosen your sister’s husband to live out this fantasy with. You might have wanted to prove that you’re still a sexual being and attractive to men. Maybe it’s connected to going through the menopause in your 40s. I’m also 50 now and have been through the menopause, so what’s happening to me? This is weird for me as I have never been the sort of person to take matters into my own hands before or do anything impulsive. Since then nothing has been mentioned about this by either of us – it’s as if it never happened – but I can’t stop thinking about him. We had fantastic sex and never said a word to each other. He got even more excited so then I dropped my dressing gown and joined him in the bed.