Slow road to a bit of peace and quiet

Most of you know about my aversion to noise, especially the very loud, cacophonic variety and my love of gardens and trees. I am constantly searching for oases of green, peace and quiet.

At the moment it is even more acute, since a lovely little lemon orchard under my bedroom window (at the back) is being demolished with an excavator and a neighbour at the front of the block was once again scraping his façade.

My poor plants, on the front and back balconies, are being choked to death. And, what with the innumerable feasts, there are absolutely no lulls at all at the moment.

Luckily, I was invited to the Ayurveda centre at the Kempinski San Lawrenz in Gozo for a few days. I always start destressing as soon as I get on the Gozo ferry. It is amazing what a 25-minute crossing over a calm sea can do for one's psyche.

The road to the boat was not plain sailing. I was rather irked by the bad driving conditions on the way to the ferry, so I needed the respite. The gaps in the white lines on the Coast Road are strategically placed - just as you cannot safely overtake, i.e. just when you cannot see the oncoming traffic because of a bend in the road.

Never mind, you can enjoy the magnificent, imposing Mount Maghtab and admire the beautiful, poisoned sea.

The St Paul's Bay Bypass has been reduced to one-lane traffic and, if you happen to have a slow-moving vehicle somewhere up front, you move at a funereal pace.

To make driving even more stressful - having slowed down, yet again to a crawl, not to get caught by the speed cameras (now that is another scam) up Xemxija Hill - the long straight road down from the roundabout at Mistra up to where the road starts to curve has one constant white line, which means you cannot overtake, even if the road is clear and you are stuck behind a snail.

No matter how tempting, do not do it, as a warden scurries out from the bushes to book you, regardless that you were not over speeding and it was a clear road.

But for the moment, keeping our fingers crossed, that is the last hurdle in the obstacle race to get to the Gozo ferry.

Having forgotten all about the irksome driving on the ferry, when we got to Mgarr, the ferry suddenly stopped just outside the harbour for about ten minutes. Not one single announcement was made to let the passengers know what was going on.

I approached one of the crew and he told me that they sometimes had to wait to dock. Why? Does the new, elaborate project only take one ferry at a time? I never remember this happening before.

Once in Gozo getting to San Lawrenz was not easy either. Road works mean you have to weave through a convoluted path to get to that part of the island.

But, it was worth it. As I had my first swim in the Kempinski pool, I would not have heard a pin drop. All I could hear was the ripple of water and the occasional twitter from birds in the trees. Absolute bliss. There were no festas, or the dreaded bangs to keep the birds away from the vines. I came back to Malta fully refreshed.

Back to the grind and the noise a letter from Fr Maurice Eminyan SJ in The Times entitled 'Sleepless in Valletta' about the jazz festival venue caught my attention.

"Has it not occurred to these authorities (those granting permits for late night concerts) and to the festival's organisers that no legal right to do something can eliminate the natural and moral right that every citizen must enjoy for rest and a good night's sleep," he wrote.

Hear, hear. But, it is not just the residents of the Grand Harbour side of Valletta who suffer from lack of sleep and rest due to late night concerts.

City residents on the other side of Valletta also have to put up with late night concerts held at Manoel Island.

I also get a lot of mail from people all over the island who have problems with noise from open-air venues. I was at the other end of the island at the Ramla Bay Resort, having a delightful meal with a superb view, on Wednesday night.

However the idyllic spot is spoilt, for tourists staying there, by a late beach disco every night at a neighbouring spot. There are other problems marring this beautiful tourist spot, but I will leave those for later, and stick with the noise issue for now.

I also get calls and mail complaining about the persistent bangs used in vineyards to scare the birds in Gozo.

Many Maltese and Gozitan residents, wherever they may live on the island, are kept awake with frayed nerves by different events but certainly the worst and most consistent are the festa bangs.

They seem to keep everyone awake except the government!

Save the trees

The response to my appeal to save the trees on Castille Place has been overwhelming. Nearly a hundred people have written or sent e-mails to me in support and our Web poll "Should the trees at Castille Place, in Valletta, be removed and have an open space instead" had 2,310 votes with 86.1 per cent saying "No" and only 13.9 per cent saying "Yes", by Friday evening.

Therefore, the petition is on. We are launching it on our Website, http://www.timesofmalta.com/misc/trees/form.php but people who do not have access to the Internet, can still participate by filling in the form at the bottom of the newspaper page (page 13). Please use more pages if you want your friends to sign it.

If you have already sent in all the details on the form, there is no need to send them again.

I was particularly impressed that even children have written in to save the trees. Eleven-year-old Natasha Padfield from Sliema sent the following letter:

"I agree with your article. Why waste time and money on this area when it looks pretty and respectable, as well as eco-friendly, already! I am against the large paving stones proposed.

"I don't see why they don't deal with the entrance to Valletta or the pavements, which are dangerous, first of all."

She has a point. The pavements in Valletta, except at Castille, are a disgrace. I would have thought it would make more sense to get those sorted out, rather than chopping down healthy, beautiful trees.

As some of the letters are too long to reproduce here, I have chosen a random selection of snippets to convey the feel of what the public is thinking.

"I have seen eight very old olive trees being cut down in a street named after those trees, which preceded the cutting of another lush garden featuring a large cypress tree. That street has joined the countless streets without a leaf of green, and almost every property sale results in the cutting into the little green that remains...

"While abroad green areas are mandatory elements of urban planning in recognition of the positive effect of flora on human wellbeing, Malta's developers rush is accelerating the desertification, which already is threatened by climate change.

"MEPA seems so unaware of the 'E' in its acronym that it might as well be removed to confirm the total lack of environmental concern to all and sundry."

"The hideous design itself for the pavement in front of Castile, apart from the intention to remove all greenery from there, shocked me. It seems the Government cannot leave well alone; they are hell bent on destroying all that is beautiful in our island, riding rough shod over our wishes, even when they deem it necessary to 'consult' us."

"I support you on the trees, but your lament on Malta's deep political division is what prompted me to write this note. For a while I was beginning to fear that I was the only person bothered with the overdose of propaganda we get from the political media - daily!

"This has been going on for so long now it has almost become ingrained in our national psyche. Yes, since 1987 the PN has managed to change Malta, but the 'Nergghu insiru ahwa Maltin' bit surely got left behind."

I am sorry but it is impossible to publish all the mail I received in this page. But we shall try to give you all more feedback on our Website.