On the Dot

The bus shelters at Għadira Bay, and which are mostly frequented by tourists, are a disgrace. One pities the commuters who have no alternative but to use them, especially in summer. When are the shelters going to be changed like the one in front of the area's bus terminus.

Streetwise

Following the item in these columns about the sorry state of the paving in Zachary Street, Valletta, steps were being taken to repair the broken sections. One hopes this job was done well enough to avoid the need to carry it out again soon. After all, this street is used by thousands of people every day.

Directional

The posters and notice boards showing the correct numbers for route buses need to be re-designed, especially after the introduction of new routes. The boards at Marsa, just across the road from the Blata l-Bajda MUSEUM chapel, have had routes and numbers missing for a very long time now.

Zoomed

Adverts appearing on cable TV stations depict a splendid image of Malta. So do aerial pictures taken courtesy of a newly-introduced helicopter service and appearing on this newspaper. Alas, many of the tourists who visit also see the bad side of the island, namely dirty roads and disorganisation. What they are likely to say on their return home could be very damaging. Hence, the need to focus and focus on the product.

Carnival

Every year, the people involved in carnival activities are in trepidation lest the weather spoil their plans and oeuvres - which it did again this year. Now that they have taken the initiative to produce a plan for the relatively quick and efficient construction of hangars, without there having to be a refurbishment of extant buildings, one hopes that the situation will be rectified before next year's carnival comes around.

Gateway

Despite several complaints from this column and other sources, the Victoria Gate area in Valletta and the structure itself remain in a sorry state. Several reports have been lodged with the Valletta local council and photos supplied to the Valletta police station to no avail. Liesse Hill, in particular, is in a shambles. Are we waiting for this historic area to fall to pieces just so that we can eventually boast about how much its rehabilitation has cost the nation?

Call-signs

There was a time when people used to prefer calling relatives abroad from phone boxes because this was much cheaper than using a home landline. With the advent of Skype and other systems, there is no longer an incentive to do so. However, if people were motivated to do so because of highly competitive rates, the phone booths could bring in a healthy income for Go plc once more.

Clocked

The clocks at bus termini and fare stages also need to be adjusted and repaired regularly. Some of them have been out of order for quite some time now and on routes where buses are few and far between, it pays to known whether it behoves one to catch a different bus and walk the rest of the way or await the scheduled one. Not everyone carries a watch.

Contempt

The Malta Transport Authority, which seems to have very little, if any, authority left, remains inactive as the serious bottlenecks especially during the morning rush hours persist in the stretch near the US Ambassador's residence in the direction of Attard. What will the ADT do/say when, some day, tempers flare and a road rage accident turns nasty?

Dogged

Puppies are still being offered for sale at City Gate, in Valletta, albeit less frequently than before, and by different persons. Some of these animals look barely old enough to have been weaned. It is very tempting to purchase these animals just to save them from what possibly would be a worse fate but there is a limit to the number of animals a household can take.

Pension

Bureaucracy gets into everything, including people's rights. It would seem that pensions are awarded as from the Saturday following a person's retirement, thus effectively denying a person payment for which he would have pre-paid via national insurance. The Department of Social Security informed an insured person of this less than a fortnight before it happened. This, again, is an affront to a person's dignity. Is this a case for the Ombudsman to take up?

Communication

The representatives of several cellular telephony companies tour the streets in order to garner new clients and, possibly, head-hunt others from rival firms. The way some of them hound people, even after these would have expressed no interest in the products or services offered, makes one wonder how they ever got to work in the "communications" business.

Wallpaper

Each e-mail that emanates from a government department carries the reminder that it ought only to be printed if this is absolutely necessary, in order to save on paper. Yet, some teachers in primary and secondary schools still insist on having children make countless photocopies or print-outs of information that, for the greater part, already exists in their textbooks, "for easier reference". This is ridiculous... and expensive.

Study-ing

This trend is also extant at tertiary institutions such as Mcast. Students are issued with the Smart Card in order to purchase their book requirements for the scholastic year. Yet, every so often, they are being sent e-mails instructing them to print material from the system. Is it that the books in hand are not compatible with the curriculum or is it that the teachers prefer to adopt this procedure in order to make things "easier" for students?