Digging holes in water!

Cheops, in all his power and splendour, could not have done better. We Maltese have become the most prolific builders in the world covering the few square kilometres of our tiny island with structures that, unlike the Great Pyramid, will simply not stand the test of time in either the aesthetic sense or simple durability.

Sliema and St Julians are undoubtedly the worst hit. Try driving around in them during the day. I am sure you have. The number of times one has to reverse or take a long detour is ridiculous. Cranes and trucks block practically every other street and, when they are not, one must carefully negotiate mounds of gravel, piles of building blocks, cement mixers, ladders and all the paraphernalia that daily invades our driving space!

We are turning our poor islands into a gigantic building site. To add insult to injury, the architecture is rarely of any standard whatsoever if one can actually have the temerity to call whatever is being built architecture, which is such a pity when Malta had such a distinctive sense of style in the past. What still remains is a living witness to the ability of the master masons and the few architects who erected houses that not only survive intact but still function beautifully in the 21st century. Above all they are a joy to behold.

Buildings are not things that one can remove or replace at will. That is expensive and impractical. Therefore, we are unfortunately lumped with these so-called modern abominations for generations to come.

I wonder whether the Mepa and the architects involved are aware of the long-term ill-effect of their low standard benchmarking on the structures that they either create or approve of.

Can you imagine a block of steel, glass and concrete apartments being built within a couple of metres away from Castel St Angelo in Rome; that is what we have allowed to be placed in Vittoriosa next to the most historic fortress in the Mediterranean! That is why Mepa is merely a money-making joke!

It was Maltese ingenuity that created the baroque glories of Valletta. Who today could possibly reach the standard of sumptuous baroque symmetry and decoration reached by Maltese architects and their proud owners at that time?

There are many people who are actually so fatalistic that they have given up the fight as in the case of the once beautiful Sliema front. The last couple of bay-windowed houses are about to go to the scaffold.

What is the point of keeping them once the whole front looks like a New York skyline gone terribly wrong? If one follows this line of thought, we will lose everything that makes our urban environment unique and we will become a totally nondescript place with nothing to distinguish us as an island with a unique history.

In consequence, we will never ever be able to attract the discerning moneyed tourist to our shores and, therefore, our shortsightedness will kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. Then, what shall we do? Starve? I hate to think.

A Parisian friend of mine was in Malta a couple of weeks ago. What did he experience in Malta? A dispute that led to an actual punch up with the notorious White Taxi gentlemen and which ended up in court would have been enough to put him off Malta for good till I took him to Vittoriosa and around the harbour.

He was so enthusiastic and waxed so lyrical that he is bringing his entire family over soon and possibly wishes to purchase a prestigious property in the area. There lies our future.

So long as he avoids the White Taxi fleet like the plague, he may possibly be all right. However, who is to guarantee that after the well heeled of Europe have settled here in some gorgeous 18th century country house, some troglodyte would not decide to use the field opposite into a graveyard for used vehicles in various states of decomposition? Go to Wardija, one of Malta's premier residential areas, and see for yourselves.

The crux of the matter is that the average Maltese has absolutely no respect for the property of others. They will litter, destroy or steal without the slightest compunction. Hence, the numbered stones of the former Royal Opera House have found themselves scattered to the four winds as they now grace gardens, chimneypieces and coffee tables around the island!

Most people have removed the last of the stone urns on their garden walls as they are so prone to be stolen. If there is such a demand for them, why does not some enterprising stonemason reproduce them.

After smearing them with yoghurt and burying them in the soil for a few months, they may actually look like the real thing! A particular house in St Julians boasts of the finest pair of doorknockers I have ever seen. The last time they were stolen the family took it in turn to scour the Monti every day, including Sundays, till at last there they were on sale at a fraction of their actual value!

What about the empty niches all over the island from which the saint has been abducted to grace a garden or fountain in some new gin-palace? Need I go on? Oh yes. Such is the ignorance of these thieves that when the Bonello collection was ravaged and subsequently traced they were about to burn the evidence. Now you have to admit that that takes beating.

One could reason that at least all these things have not been destroyed, as in the case of the charming fountain statuary of Villa Buleben, in Zebbug, but recycled; however, that is not the point. It seems as if anything that is left on display and within arm's reach is up for grabs! If it's not, somehow, destroy it!

It is high time that we collectively realised that we are slowly committing environmental suicide and that there will come a time when future generations will curse us for our avarice and ignorance.

I swore some time ago that I would never mention the three Balluta villas again, as I did with regard to Lija church, as whatever one says or writes the people involved will still do whatever they like willy-nilly.

However, I will, just this once, go back on my word, as, ironically, the villa on the right is being lovingly restored which just goes to show that there are still people who have a strong sense of civic pride. Number 40 is just about to collapse in a puff of exhausted dust all over its once so elegant double staircase. That would certainly solve a lot of problems but after all I am confident that Mepa will order the same action that was taken over Capua Palace some years ago and that it will have to be rebuilt as was... in every little detail. We will see.

So, in case you are still wondering why I named this contribution "Digging holes in water", I will spell it out. Whatever one says, writes or thinks about situations like this, there will always be some weird and convoluted political justification for the simple reason that politicians are elected by hoi polloi and it is this same hoi polloi who are systematically ruining Malta, ergo, whatever I write is as useless as the time-honoured Maltese saying taghzaq fl-ilma. At least I will always have the small satisfaction of having actually said it.

kzt@onvol.net