Qui-si-sana or - si soffoca!

One of the things I miss most about my London home is the view and the quiet - and this when I have one of the best views in Malta, and relative quiet. This is not a whinge - that's obvious by the latter statement - but an appeal for the protection and growth of quiet and clean environments.

Here, I can see the sea and the Valletta Bastions, which are spectacular.

What I miss is the park at the back of the house. I miss the glorious trees, some of which flowered in the spring and others that housed owls whose hooting at night I grew to love, and the canal, with its swans and ducks and occasional barge, going past the side of our London home.

And I could always go for a long walk, away from the traffic and accompanying fumes, either along the towpath or in the park.

Although there is a bit of greenery at Manoel Island in my current view, I wonder how much of it will survive when the development of the island gets under way. As for long walks among the trees or alongside water away from traffic, there are only a couple of places on the whole island one can do that! And they are hardly on my doorstep.

If the back of my flat in Malta backed on to a large public garden I would be in paradise - well, almost! This preamble is due to the proposed future of the little bit of open space overlooking the sea at Tigné.

Before you put this down as NIMBY (not in my back yard) talk, I do not live there. But I do walk through it, on my occasional walks around Sliema.

The residents of Tigné are objecting to having a large underground car park including a commercial 'floor' in the area. I must say I don't blame them.

They are fighting to protect the relatively quiet bit of Sliema, and the purity of the sea air from where the area gets its name, Qui-si-sana (your health improves, or does well, here).

Obviously, with an extra 800 cars (the maximum cars the park will be able to accommodate) driving in and out of the area (not passing traffic) the air is going to be more polluted, not to mention the extra traffic noise.

They also maintain that the wind that blows there is the majjistral, which blows inwards bringing in the fresh sea air (this is backed by the name, as explained above), therefore the fumes from all the extra vehicles will also blow into the town not out to sea. In which case the area would have to be renamed Qui-si-soffoca.

The commercial floor will also need deliveries, which will spell not only more traffic but heavier vehicles too, i.e. more pollution and congestion.

Quite rightly the residents are asking whether Sliema needs this particular car park and more commercial outlets.

The MIDI project next door in Tigné is reportedly to provide up to 1,000 car spaces and dozens of commercial outlets.

Town Square round the corner in Tower Road will provide even more of both. The proposed car park at Ghar id-Dud is to accommodate 280 cars; a car park, supermarket and restaurant are already operating in Sliema High Street, a stone's throw away; all the new apartments and the redeveloped Union Club all have car parks, and as for commercial outlets, that particular patch of the island is already saturated with them.

And please let us not have any more of the gaudy, unaesthetic kiosks marring our coastal walks. If people want to eat and drink in Sliema, there are plenty of cafes and restaurants just minutes away.

But it is not only the residents who will lose out if this project goes through. This will be a national loss. Residents from all over the island congregate in Sliema, especially in the summer.

They do this for the cool sea air and walks along the garden at the Exiles, all along the Sliema sea front through Ghar id-Dud, Tigné on to the Strand and down to Gzira (where there is a garden) and Ta' Xbiex.

People in favour of more car parks will say that this is precisely why we need them. But they would be missing the fumes for the trees!

I am sure that if people had the choice they would prefer to have to walk further and have wooded areas free from traffic and pollution,

It is all about quality of life, something people with commercial interests give little importance to. We have become so accustomed to a way of life, which includes cars, today seen as essential, that we do not even realise the way it has negatively affected our 'standard of living' and at what cost to our clean air!

We might be more cosseted, but our health 'standards' have certainly not improved thanks to our four-wheeled 'friend'.

Stress related illnesses are modern day diseases. Constant, excessive noise, polluted air and a more competitive environment bring them about when we never find time to unwind.

Even if we make time, finding a place where one can find peace, quiet and clean air is not easy.

What the Environment Minister should be doing is enhancing the open space at Tigné by planting more trees and shrubs and diverting traffic away by pedestrianising the area.

People should be encouraged to walk more where distances are short, and public transport should be improved where long distances are involved. What we need to be able to do is leave our cars at home when we visit a place for relaxation and Qui-si-sana is just such a place.

Five-star treatment?

If you happen to be at the Portomaso Hilton and decide to use one of the boot polishers in their restrooms, think again. A few weeks back while attending a reception for journalists, organised by the Tumas Foundation, I thought I would give my boots a shine using the boot polisher in the ladies at the Portomaso Suite.

I have often used these machines abroad and they are very effective. Imagine my horror when instead of a shine, my left boot ended up with a badly scratched top.

I was furious, these boots were still in good nick, made from good leather, they were my favourites and I had bought them in London. I complained immediately and a security assistant took the details. I showed her my boots and the machine I used and she said that somebody would get in touch with me.

I had to go into the reception feeling very conscious of a scuffed boot, and I could only minimise the damage when I bought a tin of black boot polish to cover the bad scratch next day.

Unfortunately for the hotel, I wear these boots a lot, so I am reminded almost daily of the incident, since although the shoe polish, which I now have to apply twice a day, masks the damage, the scratch is still visible.

When I had not heard anything from the hotel by the following week, I phoned the Hilton and spoke to the general manager's secretary. I repeated the complaint and I was again told that someone would get in touch with me.

By Friday afternoon, two weeks later, I still had not got a call, so I called again. The secretary I should have spoken to was on leave, so I asked to speak to someone else. I was put through to sales. To cut a long story short, because I insisted on a response, someone did eventually phone me back.

"Are you sure the damage was caused by the machine?", I was asked. "Yes. I put a perfectly healthy boot under the brush and the boot was badly scratched when I removed it away from the machine," I responded.

I repeated the details, and that I had immediately contacted staff at the hotel to show them the damage caused.

"But, were the staff actually with you when you used the machine?" I was asked.

Funnily enough, no! I do not usually ask for attendance when I visit the Ladies' restrooms. So I had to answer in the negative.

"In that case we cannot take responsibility for the damage caused. We have had those machines for five years and this is the first complaint we have had," I was told.

I see, so if you are the unlucky one to be the first when a machine malfunctions, tough!

The incident spoilt my evening and I get upset every day I look at my ruined boots. But I got no apology (I suppose that would imply responsibility) and the Hilton just would not accept responsibility.

Now my upset was over the ruination of my boots and nothing could compensate for that, I can't get my boots back to what they were a few weeks back.

But what has vexed me even more is the shirking of responsibility on the part of what is supposed to be one of the top hotels in the hospitality sector.

Now I am used to bad customer relations at some establishments on the island, but I certainly was not expecting it from a five star international hotel.