My husband, daughter and I recently had a holiday in Malta.  I had visited the island three times before and my late parents had a deep affection for Malta, having served with the British army there throughout WWII. It was they who introduced me to your beautiful island.

Very sadly, I found Malta has lost a great deal of its former charm, on account of road traffic.

On arrival – we were to stay in Ħamrun – we caught a bus as far as the Marsa Park and Ride, a 10-15 minute walk from our accommodation.

Approaching it, after five or eight minutes’ walk from Marsa Park and Ride, we came to a bridge with a roundabout to our left, up a slope.  Two roads led to and from this roundabout; cars and lorries approaching and coming away from it at great speed.  There was no safe crossing place for pedestrians.

We just managed to make it over the roads safely, fortunately.

Near the end of our holiday, our daughter left for the airport the evening before we did. My husband walked with her to the bus stop at Marsa Park and Ride; I waited for him to return, in the dark, overlooking the hellish place where the two roads pass by the bridge – I was simply too scared to cross over those treacherous roads again.

When he came back, a young man, seeing him hesitating in the face of oncoming traffic, very kindly stepped into the road to wave at an approaching car to get the driver to slow down. In this way, my husband got across safely.

Next day when we needed to get to Luqa for our flight home, my husband and I agreed to triple our travelling time by catching an airport bus from Valletta centre rather than walking part of the way and taking our lives in our hands yet again at the dangerous crossing point he’d braved twice before.

The Maltese government should give heed to the safety of pedestrians. At the time I was standing in the dark waiting for my husband’s return from the Marsa Park and Ride I saw several other pedestrians dashing to and fro across the roads at that treacherous spot.

Finally, and on quite a different matter – I was so very saddened to see that in Valletta, the iconic City Gate, that lovely welcoming approach to the capital, has been destroyed.  It is so distressing to know that someone decided that such a historic and charming edifice was of no value and not worthy of preservation. What a heart-breaking loss.

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