On the dot...

This manhole cover is one of many that dot the very frequented Mosta bypass that is bound to see increasing traffic when the last leg of the road is completed. This one is situated as one turns into the road leading to the Sghajtar parish centre but there are more on the road leading to this one. Who is responsible for damage done to cars by such traps?

Finger Paint

It is planned that European Union citizens will, in future, as a further safety measure, have their fingerprints included in the new EU passports. Whatever happened to the idea of having the iris patters used in this way? One wonders whether this measure will be further broadened to include the same marks on identity cards.

Numbers Game

A conservative estimate costs laptop computers at Lm500. When one considers that the state has bought 1,130 laptops to be used by teachers in primary schools one wonders how much of this money is sitting idle because teachers either do not bother or say they have no time to use this useful piece of apparatus. Are heads of schools insisting on the full use of IT wherever possible in the classroom?

Playing Ground

Ir-Razzett tal-Hbiberija has issued the second number of the fun magazine aimed mostly at the younger members of families. Unfortunately, it again sells at Lm1.50, which is quite high, considering its target readership, although the quality is excellent and the cost may easily be recouped by the use of the vouchers inside it. However, had it been cheaper, the small-profits-quick returns marketing rule would surely have applied and a larger print run could easily have been sold.

Thigh High

Many locally-produced brands of chicken drumsticks lose more than half their mass in the cooking. This probably means they are full of soluble fats and water, which means that customers are not really getting value for money. Does the Department for Consumer Affairs have to receive a report from the public before it does anything about this type of scam?

Paper Rounds

How often are the toilets in educational institutions, all the way up from Kindergartens to the university, checked for cleanliness? Sometimes, it is just not feasible to clean them at the end of the school day by which time they stink to high heaven.

Dogs' Life

Are veterinary doctors present at each and every horse race? Are they present during sessions at the abattoir? Do they make surprise visits at kennels run by humane societies as well as those run at a profit? One hopes that all this will become the praxis because their presence might serve as a deterrent to those who try to bend the laws.

Child's Play

A journey to Valletta, and elsewhere, on any given weekday, probably involves encountering at least 10 children, with parents or carers, who do not seem in the least sick enough to have absented themselves from school. This is a shame - and also a form of child abuse, however pleasurable an extra holiday may be to the child, for it is a basic right for the child to attend school.

Pulse Rate

So students, apparently, have only Lm5 left over from their stipend at the end of the month, having had to fork out the rest for bus fares - at least if they live on what is normally construed as the southern part of the island. This means that there is just enough to purchase a drink, a beverage, a snack and a piece of fruit. This, of course, applies only to those who do not take packed lunches, and do not have lifts to school.

Energy Crises

In countries where energy is extracted from household garbage, the waste recycling plants working on the sustainable waste management strategy cover an area of a middling town. One wonders where such a facility, if that is the correct word, will eventually be sited. No doubt, the best place would have been the valley which has become Mount Maghtab.

Light Relief

On January 14, lights were still on in some Valletta streets, during the morning and afternoon, such that there was no need to turn them on in the evening. The sky was not even overcast...

Mail Orders

Suddenly, Maltapost plc has seen the light. People who send a number of circulars through the post, including their own address to check on the date of delivery, have reported that very often the delivery date is the day after the mail would have been collected from the post-box. This is a vast improvement from when it took at least three days.

On the Dot

Residents in Lord Strickland Street (formerly Long Street) near San Anton gardens, in Attard are unhappy with the way their street was turned into a one way thoroughfare only allowing traffic to go in the direction of the Corinthia Hotel from Attard. Can't the lower part, which is reasonably wide, be open to two way traffic - at least to residents - while the narrow stretch would remain one way?

Road Wise

A question the people at the Malta Transport Authority are implored to answer ASAP: Given that St Anne Street, Floriana must be the main road on the island, why is it that the road works there do not continue 24 hours a day, seven days a week?