It does not seem that a car with tinted windows and parked in St Mary Street, Mosta, belongs to a resident of the road even if it has been there for some time. Incidentally, are not tinted windows illegal?

Reading Matters

Last Wednesday, many people did not even appear to know that the International Day of the Book was being celebrated. Moreover, unless one totes one's own reading material to waiting rooms or queues, one is likely to be faced with a dearth of it, or else tatty, ancient copies of dull trade magazines. The printed word is precious - let us rediscover it.

Polluted Pastries

Every Thursday morning, a confectionery hawker lays out his wares, unpacked and uncovered on a stall near the bus terminus at the start of the Żurrieq weekly market. This exposes the food not only to the elements but also to the unsavoury additives of flying insects, airborne dust and vehicle exhaust fumes.

Tunnel Lights

Now that the Manwel Dimech bridge has been finally re-opened after being upgraded, can the authorities swiftly also upgrade to EU standards the lighting in the tunnels? By the way, the tunnels could also do with whitewashing. The installation of new lights with reflectors makes the most of the least energy expenditure.

Call Signs

From the balcony in the Upper Barrakka Gardens in Valletta one has a majestic bird's eye view of a heritage jewel - Fort St Angelo. It is pathetic to note that financial gain was behind the defacing of the bastions through a huge advertisement placard hanging there. This is an outrage.

Black Out

Once hope springs eternal, one can only... well... hope that some courageous politician or top civil servant would finally decide that citizens are owed an explanation. And make sure the findings of the inquiries into the fatal police shooting in Qormi and the near air-miss over Żebbuġ are published.

By Appointment

People make every effort to obey the instructions on the information sheets for patients and notices hanging upon hospital clinic walls to the effect that, if one turns up late, one chances losing one's appointment. It is therefore incomprehensible and galling to note that an appointment for 9 a.m. at the Psychiatric Unit was only actualised at 1.15 p.m.

Driver Distraction

Wardens have a captive audience when it comes to booking drivers who are not belted up, as well as those who are using their cellular phones on the move. However, they fail to take into account the fact that anything that distracts a driver's attention - including ear-shattering music that may be heard from blocks away, as well as eating - constitutes a risk as this distracts the driver from what he ought to be doing.

Net Losses

Internet service providers have introduced a new system by which one can connect to the internet via a modem functioning through a Sim card. The advertising spiel made it sound too good to pass up since all that was required was signing a contract for two years, obtaining the modem, which would have cost about Lm150, for free. Subscribers have found to their chagrin that the system is irritatingly slow. Moreover, when one enters a chat programme such as MSN, one notes that some messages are not delivered and that there is a time-lapse with others.

Horse Play

Horse-drawn cab drivers are regularly seen using the purely functional, sorry excuse, for a shelter, in the general area of the main entrance of the Mediterranean Conference Centre, in Valletta. Surely something more in keeping with the surroundings could have been devised? Meanwhile, one notes that some of the horses do not get to enjoy this haven of shade because their drivers prefer to tout for business a little way up, or down, from the shelter.

Zig Zagged

Every time there is an examination session, the same problems turn up. Students meander through moving traffic in order to get to their centres, whereas some drivers attempt to get their vehicles actually up to the gates of the centres, not even worrying that cars coming from every direction will ultimately create bottlenecks and traffic jams galore. Streets should be closed off at the nearest corner.

Road Harrows

And while on the subject of potential accidents, it is worth commenting about the practice of training horses by taking them around and around the streets of a residential area, in the early morning, to avoid the heat. With many people already sleeping with windows and balcony doors open, this is creating a nuisance. Moreover, sometimes, the so-called training is not done by having someone walk the horse; a vehicle chugs along slowly while someone, on occasion even the driver, holds the reins.

Bottled Up

There was a time when people rummaged rubbish in bins, or even went diving, to collect glass bottles and cash them in for the deposit money. With the advent of plastic bottles, no one bothers to do the same thing for the cause of taking the cache to bring-in sites. This, then, is progress.

Dirty Mound

Comments made in this column about the need to ensure somebody clears up the mess at the waste bring-in site close to the Attard government school evidently fell on deaf ears. A multitude of plastic bags could be seen around the colour-coded rubbish bins there yesterday afternoon. But why does nobody seem to care?

Thin Line

Perhaps the Malta Transport Authority, or whichever authority, can explain why some wardens (rightly) book vehicles parked on pavements but then some pavements have a white line painted on them indicating that cars can be parked on them? It is all about width, the powers-that-be may argue. Sort of: never mind the quality, feel the width.

onthedot@timesofmalta.com

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