An S plate for Sliema

I am earnestly awaiting the construction and patenting of the helicar. We need an inventor to make a car which is propelled into the air like a helicopter. I should be among the first to queue up and buy such a marvel. It would make parking when you got home from work a doddle. Simply hover above the building you live in and park on the roof! Flat builders would have a field-day charging for roof-spaces!

To be brief, I received a parking ticket today. Not because I came to Sliema to shop; to stroll along the newly-embellished water-front; nor even to swim. I simply returned home after work, went round a few times, found nowhere to park my car and had to squeeze it in close to a corner - no yellow line, if there was one originally it has been obliterated by the builders and their machines down the road. The corner is not one cars go around to drive up our one-way street. The car was not hindering anybody's passage.

Another summer is here. Has anybody even breathed the phrase "residential parking" out of compassion for us poor people who live in Sliema and do not own a garage or space? We are all very pleased about having spent thousands of liri enticing yet more visitors and car-drivers to Sliema, but has anybody bothered to plan for the parking of the cars they bring in?

We have a good number of hotels here. How many of them actually provide underground parking for their staff and visitors? This is not the commercial area of Sliema I am referring to, it is the residential area.

Why are builders of flats allowed to demand an extortionate price for garage-space from people who buy a flat in new blocks?

The problem of parking is a serious one here. It will not go away unless we do something about it. I do have a suggestion. I think that the time has come for Sliema to be treated like Valletta and Mdina. Visitors should come in by bus, as most visitors to Valletta do.

I think that only cars bearing an S on their licence ought to be allowed parking. Passage through Sliema has to be free for all, but parking should be paid for. That might eliminate the cars of casual bathers and strollers from our streets, which would mean that we would be able to use our cars when necessary without the headache of not finding a parking space when we get back home.