On the Dot...

The imposing façade of Saint Cajetan's church in Hamrun is marred by pigeon droppings, as, for that matter, are several other beautiful buildings. There is a humane society that offers to pay for spaying or neutering cats. How about a sponsor for contraceptive feed, since it is practically impossible to cull these vermin in order to treat them?

Soot-Able Reply

Minister Austin Gatt was recently quoted in Parliament as saying that the Delimara chimneys have apparatus that measure gas emissions. Not so, apparently, the chimneys at Saint Luke's Hospital. Approaching from Triq Mimosa, one is startled to see thick columns of black smoke emanating from the chimneys there. It is ironic that a place that ought to be making people healthier, if not altogether well, has sooty fallout, as well as kilograms of pigeon droppings stuck to windowsills, to contend with.

Black Harrows

Nature abhors a vacuum, and this is nowhere more amply seen at Maghtab, where greenery is already creeping over some parts of the mass. This has the added benefit that the roots are binding the surface soil and stopping it from sliding downwards. One hopes that the rehabilitation of the place will be taken in hand in earnest.

Times Three

It appears to be the fashion for political parties to try to get their message across by attempting to squeeze their message into three words. Unfortunately, sometimes the words chosen would have already been used elsewhere, in a different context, by other entities. Surely one could do better if one puts one's mind to it?

Desk Jobs

Are facilitators solely employed for the good of the child they accompany, or are they supposed to help the less-motivated children in their particular class if these are not selected for remedial teaching? Is it legal for the school administration to order a facilitator to look after a whole class when a teacher is not present?

Ship Shape

Well done to Labour MP Justyne Caruana for suggesting that an announcement of the fact that in inclement weather passengers would be boarding for Gozo from Sa Maison, rather than from Cirkewwa, ought to be broadcast at MIA. One would suggest going a step further that this same announcement also be made on board relevant public transport, aircraft and passenger seacraft.

Cutting Edge

One notes that Maltapost plc is issuing another set of nature-oriented stamps, this time depicting insects. It would be a good idea if a limited number of the other sets in the series were re-issued simultaneously; this would give new philatelists a chance to acquire them, as well as encourage one-off buyers who would otherwise not bother seeking them out. Will there be a self-adhesive version, one wonders?

Loopy Solution

Some of the trees in the Mosta Rotunda plaza are held in place with light blue loops that attach them to other trees. If they are so sick that they must be held in an upright position in this crude manner, the trees ought to be replaced forthwith. And anyway, was it really a wise decision to have palms, rather than indigenous plants, bang in the middle of Mosta?

Disc Jockeying

Amazingly, another blitz operation has netted the forces of law and order more pirated audio-visual media. Meanwhile, video rental shops offer "excellent" prices on package deals for what they call original film and music CDs, some of which may be procured by the owner at too short a notice for them to be imported, even by air freight.

Rubbing Salt

For several years, this column has been humbly suggesting the transformation of the Salini from a smelly place with decrepit shacks into a site worthy of a place on the cultural outings roadmap. The good news is that the canals will be dredged soon; but the bad news is that the results will flow well into the tourist season, and, besides, there has been no mention that the freestanding, crumbling wall will be removed and the buildings modernised.

Message Mat

In the days of really bad landline telephony, one could make a very urgent call from a coin box. These days, when some phone booths have been adapted to IT cabins, one cannot use an ordinary phone card if the apparatus is out of order. If spare parts to mend the latter are not available, could the system be switched back to a phone booth, so that at least it may be used rather than taking up pavement space for nothing?