On the Dot...

Someone or something appears to have taken a bite out of the "needle" monolith in the Blata-l-Bajda bypass, standing across the way from the MUSEUM chapel. If this damage, visible from the Valletta side and about halfway up the stone, is due to weathering, the effects can only worsen if it is not repaired.

Scents of Direction

In the area between Herbert Ganado Street and Mountbatten Street, Pietà, in the stretch between the girls' Junior Lyceum and the Nationalist Party offices, there is an all-pervading smell of drainage. This has been lingering in the air for a long time and nothing appears to have been done to eliminate it.

Dog Gone

It would be interesting to find out exactly how many people have been fined for letting their dogs soil public footpaths, especially when parking contraventions appear to be the number one item on the hit list of wardens and policemen alike. The public deserves clean pavements just as it deserves safe streets.

Road Ways

The area of St Joseph High Street, Hamrun, between St Mary and Barbara Streets, is in a terrible state. Potholes that have not been filled the last time patching was done, have now deepened with the result that residents are often jolted from their sleep by the heavy vehicles that use this street on a daily basis. Some things are more important than a parking scheme which does not always work well anyway.

Signing Off

Whatever happened to the Road Signs Cooperative? The signs at the bottom of St Christopher Street, Valletta, where it meets Mediterranean Street (on the Lower Barrakka side), are rather confusing, to say the least, especially to people who are not used to the area and who note cars parked along the latter street facing either direction. Turning them a few degrees left, or right, would better indicate which directional signs one ought to obey, coming from the direction of St Barbara Bastions, with regard to either street.

Wired for Sound

One need not be a basketball player, or have an umbrella with a hooked handle, to court disaster on the way into Valletta. At the left-hand side of City Gate, what are presumably electricity wires hang low enough for them to be reached by passers-by. These wires have obviously escaped the attentions of those whose job it is to remove all such eyesores and fascinatingly dangerous items.

Crumbling Icons

St Andrew's beautiful statue at Marsaxlokk is in a pitiful state indeed and it is hoped someone will do something to restore it. It was restored years ago but the sea corroded it in no time. Even the statue of St Andrew in Xlendi Bay needs a facelift badly.

Lipped Discs

Not so long ago, a lot of fuss was made about the new, improved surface of St Anne Street, in Floriana, just past the entrance to St Francis Ravelin. The place remains, however, one of the most dire accident traps on the island, as commuters to and from Valletta can attest. Something must definitely be done to keep this wanton damage off the roads.

Pizza the Action

Sorry seems to be (one of) the hardest words to say when it comes to waiters admitting they are at fault, with diners. Yet the other day a member of the staff at Peristyle in Rabat proved to be an exception. Having produced two large pizzas instead of the two small ones ordered, he said with a smile that the charge would be as per the order. This kind of attitude is bound to garner repeat custom.

Strange Silence

It is strange that not one MP has raised his voice in parliament, or elsewhere, to refer to the seemingly justified complaints by motorcyclists about the exorbitant insurance premiums now being charged. Alternattiva Demokratika's silence is stranger, in view of the environmental connotations. What is it that makes MPs so chary of speaking critically about the moneyed insurance companies?