Loopholes and gates

There are loopholes in everything, and it seems that the Valletta camera surveillance system has plenty. Anyone who knows Valletta well has by now surely been delighted to stumble on the fact that there are ways of entering Valletta without passing a camera and incurring fees. One example is St Ursula Street (near Dar l-Emigrant) that has been open for several months. Another easy way is to effortlessly remove the unpadlocked central bollard in Republic Street.

Night time makes matters even easier for the non-law abiding for the fact that wardens are nowhere to be seen.

With so many people abusing a system that is not fool proof, Valletta residents are still unhappy about parking facilities.

Now a word about the Upper Barrakka. Only one flap of the main gate has been opened for at least the past six weeks. The reason? A broken hinge on the other flap. How long does it take to repair or replace a hinge, I'd like to know. I hate to think of how tourists squeezing through the diminished entrance judge us.

And if after getting in they decided they needed to use the toilets after 7.30 p.m., then there's bound to be yet one more negative impression - the toilets are closed until the next day! What does one do? Uncomfortable as one is, one must desperately hunt around not even knowing where to begin looking. Oh dear! What if it's too late?

All it takes to improve our act is some pride to ensure that Valletta residents and tourists alike have a positive experience of our capital city.