Flag-waving pensioner given a special send-off

Passengers aboard a cruise liner sailing out of Grand Harbour yesterday were delighted to see a small group of people waving a Maltese flag from atop an apartment block. This time, however, it was not Charles Cremona, the pensioner who unfailingly welcomes and bids farewell to cruise liner passengers. It was his son, Vince, waving the flag and his father waved back from the ship, the Costa Favolosa. Last September, Times of Malta tracked down the 70-year-old after spotting his unswerving practice of cheerily waving his Maltese flag to arriving and departing cruise passengers. This did not escape the attention of a private company, which gave Mr Cremona and his wife, Consiglia, a free holiday on a cruise liner in appreciation of his commendable gesture. And when the day arrived yesterday, his family and friends gathered on the roof of his flat in Valletta to give him a hearty send-off. As the liner cruised sailed slowly out of the breakwater, Vince waved the flag as the rest of the party cheered and honked fog horns, brandishing a placard with the words “We love you” written across it. The enthusiasm was readily reciprocated by the passengers on the liner, who cheered and waved...