¤ Midas Hotel, in Tignè Street corner with Pace Street, Sliema, appears to have been in a state of abandonment for more than three years now. Broken windows had been boarded up with plywood, which has long since fallen into the street, having become detached. Chunks of stones from the façade and the rest of the building frequently fall off, endangering pedestrians and damaging parked cars.

Dog Gone

¤ Animal Shelters are doing us all a favour by taking in stray and abandoned animals. Yet, part of their burden happens simply because pet shop owners are often overeager to make a sale, even when they instinctively feel that the pet being purchased will not last long within a particular household. Unfortunately, no bought animals come with a money-back guarantee. It would be a good idea were different NGOs to encourage voluntary work there.

Lion's Share

¤ This column has often pointed towards the need for replacing most of the boundary wall surrounding Casa Leoni, in Fleur-de-Lys, since most of it is eroded beyond renovation. Now that a part of it has collapsed, the section is being merely patched up. One hopes that whoever is responsible will go the whole hog and repair all of it; one also hopes that the broken stones being tossed into a skip have no historical value.

Post Card

¤ The current controversy surrounding Ta' Cenc would be hilarious were it not pathetic. What it all boils down to is the simple fact that the illegally-constructed hunters' hides that have no right to be there, and protected endemic plants, that do, will be razed to make way for a handful of villas for the chosen few. These, and the entrepreneur(s), will be the only ones set to gain from the venture; the rest of us will lose out.

Fly Over

¤ The European Parliament has agreed upon the introduction of a common blacklist which would indicate airlines that do not comply with extant health and safety regulations. It is indicated that the said list will appear on the internet, on the EU's Official Journal, and on related premises, viz. airports. However, one would appreciate were the lists to appear periodically on at least the Sunday papers in order to reach a wider cross-section of the populace, or perhaps during televised news bulletins by means of a character generator.

Love Apples

¤ A great investment has been made to improve the production methods, and product quality, of tomatoes. Meanwhile, it is ironic that the local product, after it is tinned, is often accompanied by special offers in order to affect sales whereas foreign brands sell for much cheaper, without any added frills. This is what a free market policy is all about, after all.

Money Talks

¤ The general public has been invited to select what it thinks ought to appear on local euro coins. It would have been a good idea to include a register, somewhere, where people could visit and make suggestions tangibly. This was done in the aborted Royal Theatre project which remains for posterity.

Car Parked

¤ The state, so to speak, helped people "adopt" the cars that were used for the CHOGM by footing some of the taxation and duties. Would it do the same by subsidising the air fares of couples who would seek to adopt children but cannot because of prohibitive costs?

Lights Out

¤ Street lights in different localities on occasion are still left on during the day, when the timing mechanism goes awry. This is sheer waste; it is high time that the public was given a freephone to call so that someone could go to the substation and physically turn the lights off, overriding any computerised system.

Festa Falls

¤ Given that the littering and dumping laws have now come into effect, one wonders whether they will also apply during carnival and festa time, when a good part of the frolics include throwing streamers or confetti all over the place. Will the polluter pays principle also be applied to other types of pollution - the noise pollution of fireworks and all-night partying?

Try Angles

¤ A tiny triangular patch in Valletta Road, Qormi, has become a regular mini-dump both for motorists passing by and for people who think it is bothersome to wait for the regular garbage collection. Unfortunately, sometimes stray cats get at the rubbish before the authorised personnel do; anything that falls out will eventually become part of the tarmac.

Passing By

¤ One of the lanes and streets that give onto the Mriehel Bypass is Sqaq il-Hofor. This name will soon have to be used in order to take in the section of the main road a few metres down (towards Qormi) as well. Every time it rains, little more debris is gouged out of the recently-built ring road. It should be inspected at least once a month for faults such as the current ones.

Speed Discrepancy

¤ The speed limit on the Mriehel Bypass is 80 kph, which is reasonable. On the equally fast and recently built road from near Ta' Qali to Zebbug, the limit is 70 kph. Why the discrepancy, when the road is better than the bypass, and less used by traffic?

Clean Viewing

¤ Hats off to the Malta Broadcasting Authority for (finally) deciding to insist that all TV and radio programmes should be classified and that clear warnings be made when the material is not suitable for children. Can we now have all broadcasting stations clearly say what set-ups are in place to set such ratings, including names?