On the Dot...

It is not only clouds that tend to have a silver lining at times. Baked bread tends to occasionally get such a lining as well, literally. This is what a reader from Ta' Xbiex concluded last week when he sliced a loaf finding inside the silver foil of a cigarette packet! The reader will be returning the loaf complete with silver foil to the supermarket in Sliema he bought it from.

Site Unseen

The environmentally-aware people living in Fleur-de-Lys, who were pleased that a bring-in site had been established in Triq il-Passju, must now be having second thoughts. Either they, or people from other locations who are bringing in their sorted garbage, are being overly-enthusiastic or else the skips are not being emptied often enough. Mounds of refuse are regularly seen around the bins and on top of them.

Customer Care?

A pensioner from San Gwann was left with a leakage after a new water meter was installed in her house. She called the Water Services Corporation's customer care and was quickly told it was her problem and that she was responsible for finding a plumber to sort it out.

Blood Brothers

The reminder notices sent by the National Blood transfusion centre to potential donors have been given a welcome face lift. No more bits of yellow paper, folded in two with a scrawled signature at the bottom. The new, computer-generated letters of advice include information about three main collection centres, and opening times, the addresses, website and details of the centre and even a reference number. This encourages one to comply.

Animal Instincts

How true is it that animal fights are being organised in derelict houses in Cospicua? Are the authorities and animal rights groups checking at odd hours to see whether this is happening or not?

Traded In

The park-and-ride scheme introduced with regard to transport from the Malta Trade Fair was a success but not as unmitigated as one would have liked. It would seem that not everyone trusts the idea of leaving a vehicle so far away from the venue one would be visiting.

Children's Corner

Top marks to Sonya Camilleri and Josephine Falzon, the two public officials who have met the group of children who are auditioning for places on the Children's Council. The two ladies have the innate knack of making everyone feel immediately at home and immediately created a welcoming atmosphere, especially when, after one introduction, they remembered everyone's names.

Swim Wear

Some selfish people have seen to it to remove the swimmer's-aid ladder at Wied Iz-Zurrieq. This means that if the sea is choppy, people will find it difficult to get back on land. Perhaps the local council can somehow replace the steps with more securely-anchored ones.

Dead Uncomfortable

Despite several complaints made personally and through the press, the mortuary at St Luke's Hospital annexe remains in a terrible state. The rusting iron gates give only a small foretaste of what is to come; the freezing cold room, with partitions made of curtains that do not close fully and the inevitable sight of corpses that are not of those one has known and loved, make a last goodbye a very distressing experience.

Green Gauge

In Parish Priest Mifsud Street, Hamrun, just by the greengrocer, is a vacant plot that is only separated from the pavement by a row of stones a few centimetres high. It has become a mustering point for all the stray cats of the area and a big litter bin as well.

Grey Matter

A field of very dry grass, with blades so high they obscure the view to the other side, abuts the new parking lot used by people visiting the Maria Addolorata Cemetery, in Paola. This is an accident waiting to happen; it would be better for the grass to be razed to the ground by the same workers who remove tiny, flowering weeds on which butterflies settle, elsewhere.

Garden Lore

The newly-refurbished Upper Barrakka Gardens, in Valletta are indeed a sight for sore eyes. Only one thing mars the overall appearance - a (male) toilet attendant, sitting in the cubby-hole in front of the cabins, holding a roll of toilet paper in his hands and offering to tear off bits from it to people who would like to use the public convenience. It looks tatty, and, besides, it's not hygienic.

Mirror warning

The street mirror in Mrabat Street, Sliema warning cars coming out of Tonna Street has been removed. Moreover, cars are regularly parking illegally along Mrabat Street, stopping at a fast food outlet. This is making exiting Tonna Street extremely difficult. The local council and wardens should take immediate action to rectify the potential accident spot.

Road Manners

A group of cyclists, all wearing the same type of T-shirt, thought it fit to take over the main roads yesterday morning and, at least on two occasions on the Mriehel bypass, jumped the red lights, creating danger to themselves and to motorists. And why were they not accompanied by police motorbikes?