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I
n t e r v i e w
Providing our daily bread
Nadine
Brincat talks to an Msida baker and learns a thing or two about
his gruelling routine
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Billy
Garrett has been working in the line of bakery since he was
14, like his father before him. He started off working in England
– where he was born and lived until the age of 16, with his
father in a bakery. Now he runs his own bakery in Msida, which
means long hours of work and stress. "This bakery was built
over 150 years ago, at the time when the Msida Church was built
and it has been in my family for the past 23 years," he recounts.
Billy’s working day starts off at 10.30 pm and consists of
preparing the dough, and he hopes to be out of the bakery by 10.30
am the following day. He admits to being a day sleeper by necessity,
his body clock is forced to switch between day and night. After
all, he works when most of us are resting, but Billy gets his
much needed sleep between 2 pm and 9.30 pm.
Despite the tough life every baker leads, Billy harbours no regrets,
"this is my trade, my craft, it is what I do, I cannot see
myself doing anything else." To help him run the bakery and
deal with clients, Billy‘s wife, Rose, and his uncle step
in. Rose, besides taking care of their two children and the house,
also helps Billy at the bakery between 4.30 am to 2.30 pm. "We
hardly have any time for each other at all," they complain
in chorus.
Billy says that it is clearly easier to be employed in a bakery
than to run one, "I was employed with someone else for around
a year, but things didn’t work out. The story repeated itself
again and I finally came here."
Billy and Rose are the proud parents of two children, a 16 year
old girl and a boy, aged 11. To Billy’s great disappointment,
neither are in the least bit interested in taking over the bakery.
"They will do almost anything to avoid coming here, its just
not their line," he says, resigned to fate. Billy has decided
to keep running the bakery until his son is out of school.
"My daughter went to St Catherine’s, now she has finished
school, but my son has another five years to go," he says.
Billy explains that schooling two children takes quite a toll
on the budget of any family, starting with school fees or donations
and mini bus fees, just to mention a few.
"Since my children are not interested in this line of work,
I have decided to rent out the bakery when my son finishes school,
in five years’ time," he says. Billy has come to the
conclusion that youngsters do not want to work in a bakery, "The
hours are long, and when one is young, one wants to enjoy oneself,
work here starts when the nightlife does, you have to choose between
one and the other."
This is why it is difficult to employ someone in a bakery, he
says, resolved to rent the bakery out, when there is less financial
burden on the family. What will he do then? Billy immediately
responds that he will seek employment with another bakery, where
he will have no concerns about actually running the business.
"Sometimes shops do not pay up in time, but you still have
to pay for the dough and bake the bread," he explains. Rose
says that the job is not an easy one, "its almost a way of
life; if you are sick, you still have to wake up at unearthly
hours, come to work and open the bakery," she says, adding
that in business there is little sympathy for the flu.
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But Billy
remembers helping his father from a very young age, going to the
bakery late at night to participate in the ritual-like preparation
of the dough. Today, amidst such a hectic life, Billy’s only
outing takes place on a Saturday, when he goes to watch his children
dance. "They both attend Latin American dancing lessons,
both are very good," he says proudly. His son won second
place in a competition in Italy, he explains, his eyes glinting
with the proud look of a father.
According
to Billy, modern ovens will mark the end of typical Maltese bread.
"The modern electric oven is fast and efficient, a single
employee can do the workload, but it won’t bake hobz tal-malti
and ftira." Rose explains that their bakery works by traditional
canons, "Our oven still works by burning wooden logs, not
petrol. That is what makes traditional Maltese bread. As a matter
of fact, people from as far as Marsascala and Mellieha come all
the way here, to buy our bread."
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