On the Dot...

This traffic sign in Qormi is repeated three times in a particular area, with the same spelling error. The local council was informed about it at least three months ago. Is there no one to do some proof reading?

Stop That Pigeon

The pigeon population in Hamrun appears to be on the increase. And no wonder; people have been noticed going around this town - or even sitting in the plaza just in front of the police station - carrying bagsful of food for them. At a pinch, their local council could do worse than provide them with food spiked with contraceptives.

Safe as Houses

Compulsory safety cards that would indicate that the holders have the necessary training in occupational health and safety will be the order of the day for workers in the construction industry. Yet, these cards are worth less than the paper upon which they are printed if their holders do not combine them with adequate precautions and safety gear and reducing needless risk-taking as a matter of course.

Fat of the Land

Six out of every 10 adult Maltese people are either overweight or obese. Yet, fast food outlets and agents of snacks loaded with sugars and fats continue to sponsor children's programmes on the media. One wonders whether the Nutrition Unit of the Department of Health will, in the near future, make a move towards having the equivalent of the messages on cigarette packets accompany these advertisements.

Body Language

Some weeks ago, people sent in a consent form indicating that they would like to be organ donors after their death. So far, not even an acknowledgement, let alone the wallet card itself, has materialised.

Male Shots

The Labour Party is laying a great emphasis on the rights of women involved in cases of domestic violence, and rightly so. However, the odds are stacked against these women from the start, when an all-male jury, as more often than not obtains, is probably already subconsciously biased in favour of her partner.

Sign of the times...

Besides this spelling mistake in the road name (below), could it be that Naxxar authorities have not seen the numerous shoddy signs from Lexi to Joanna to Sejjieh to Comba, that give the entrance to this village a shabby look... some have been there for over four years!

Home Thoughts

Unfortunately, there is still the trend among parents of children in different classes of the same grades in schools to compare the homework their children would have been given (i.e. by their different teachers). Since methodologies often differ, this is more often than not different, in type and in quantity. Comparisons are, of course, odious, but not as odious as the people who make them.

Chimney Sweepings

A recent cartoon in the local press compared the St Luke's Hospital incinerator to a gigantic cigarette. Given that treatment and hospitalisation will one day take place in the new hospital, will the chimney still be belching smoke with sooty fall-out when the hospital population will decrease dramatically, or will it still be utilised?

Window Shopping

The Lower Barrakka has taken on a new lease of life. Those responsible for keeping it in proper condition may now find time to lavish care upon the sorry triangle of soil just across the road.

Loud ride

For these last three weeks in Transfiguration Avenue, Lija, someone has been driving repeatedly at a high speed with his car stereo full on. This is happening during the night between around 10 p.m. to midnight on weekdays and from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. during weekends. Various reports have been made to the police.

More and less

Driving from San Gwann towards Naxxar one cannot help noticing the rising proliferation of signs "sejjieh jew fil" and the ever diminishing (in height and sight) rubble walls that surround these final few fields... Is it possible that nobody in authority ever sees these things?