On the Dot...

The pavement on one side of Gilormu Cassar Avenue, Valletta was dug up from one end to the other and left in shambles for the weekend (picture). Is it absolutely impossible to operate a system whereby two teams are assigned simultaneously: one digging it up and the other making it up again?

Steps Behind

Travelling from the City Gate bus terminus to visit patients at Sir Paul Boffa Hospital one is more likely to take the steps than go all around the planted area and using the Harper Lane approach. Obviously, however, the return journey is made harder due to the fact that it is steeply uphill, some of the steps are broken and the banister rail is not too steady. Moreover, since people tend to pause for breath, they have more time to notice the desultory state of the area on either side of the steps.

Wash 'n Wear!

The resourcefulness of those intent on committing illegal acts knows no end. In the circumstances, the public would appreciate representatives being present at the destruction of booty - as they would appreciate a news item on television about caches of drugs being publicly and irretrievably destroyed each time they are found.

Reduce and Reuse...

Everybody talks about the need for saving the planet but most leave the onerous job to others. Two entities that have actually done something about it, however, are Ark Publishers, that have collected the Yellow Pages of clients who bothered to leave them on the doorstep, before replacing the directory with the latest version, and the National Council of Women, which has set up a competition for secondary schoolchildren wherein they must create a gift from materials that would otherwise have been discarded.

Film Stripe

Schools often organise educational tours for their students and sometimes this outing takes the questionable form of a visit to the cinema. How about introducing a scholastic version of the National Cinema Day, wherein suitable documentaries, or broad-appeal films, perhaps connected with topics being studied, are screened at a price even cheaper than the one usually charged in such circumstances, rather than classes having to make do with whatever is being shown during that particular week?

Freeze Frames

In April 2001, Malta This Month indicated that the then Economic Services Parliamentary Secretary George Hyzler had said that the Film Advisory Council, that had been established the previous August, was proposing incentives such as the possibility of VAT refunds on car hire, accommodation, fuel and other expenses, as well as perks connected with equity participation and income tax deals. Four years later, we are witnessing the heartbreaking decision by Disney to shoot its film, at the Bahamas tanks. Why?

Kept Posted

After several suggestions from this column, Maltapost plc had introduced postage paid envelopes, for local mail. However, these come only in one size. Correspondence that does not fit in, or is too heavy for, one of them must either be divided into two envelopes, (an extra 10c) or else sent in the smallest cardboard post-box available. This costs 30c and has no stamps franked on it.

Slight Brigade

A Lm30 per hour charge has been introduced for the use of the VIP lounges at the Malta International Airport. Certain sections of the press have deemed this as too steep, especially seeing that this service had been offered for free before privatisation. There are two basic solutions to this conundrum; one either resigns oneself to being a common mortal, thereby avoiding having to pay, or else the fee is subsidised by the ministries of the personalities using the lounges or those of the delegations whose guests the visitors are, which would probably mean that ultimately the public foots the bill.

Short Circuit

Mdina does not seem to have fared too badly from the ban on light cars during the week; however, with a bus terminus practically a stone's throw away from the city and less people working there, the problem is not nearly as acute as that of Valletta vis-à-vis the proposed Park and Ride site. Has no one thought of the more feasible solution; that of increasing the number of routes, shuttle-style, the number of buses and the number of journeys made daily so that people think about using public transport at least as often as they utilise their own cars?

Digital Device

Much ado was made about the inauguration of the ICT centre for all in Bulebel, rather as if all the disadvantaged people for whom it is meant can simply hop on a bus and have access to it. One would have thought that the public-access computers in different local council offices were more of a priority. It is annoying to find that they are out of order, or being hogged by the same people, and then not for serious work.

Pick Pockets

How long will it be before karozzini drivers decide to take the scenic route along the newly refurbished, highly expensive road networks, since there are no road signs specifically prohibiting this? Although a lot of fuss was made about the responsibility of dog owners to collect any messes made by their pets, no such regulations have so far been adopted towards keeping roads clear of horse droppings. One hopes adequate measures will be provided to forestall any inconveniences.

Sunny Side

Politicians and local council representatives are all smiles and promises when they come to one's house in the run-up to national or local elections. Only a few of them bother to stagger home visits in such a way as not to make their intentions blatantly obvious. Messages left on answering machines, during most of the year, go unanswered. Are these people so busy they never play their tapes back before a new lot of messages automatically erases the old ones?

Dress Sense

Whenever a local dress designer, or a company of such, has an exhibition abroad, all the stops are pulled out in the local media to accord them publicity. Yet, when push comes to shove, that is, designing outfits for local entities, the boot is literally on the other foot; the outfit concerned crows to high heaven about how uniforms were designed by a renowned foreign celebrity. This is pathetic and ironic.