On the dot

Last Wednesday, the website of the Department of Information ( www.doi.gov.mt/search.asp ) had a tiny note at the bottom right-hand side indicating that it was last updated on May 31, 2007, more than a year ago. Since the visitor is not redirected elsewhere, one can safely assume that the webmaster did not deem it necessary to make the visuals more interesting. Moreover, a search for "Valletta" did not even begin to actuate before at least 10 minutes, by which time the visitor lost interest, other sites having meanwhile yielded him the necessary information.

Post Boxed

A sympathy card sent by registered mail over three months ago from Australia to Malta was returned to its sender, intact, this week. Stamped on the envelope were the words "not collected". This is debatable - in Malta, registered mail is actually handed over by the postman after one signs a release. If a client is not at home, a notification is left in a letter box, for the item to be picked up from a branch. In this particular case, neither option happened.

Reuse Initiative

Bring-in sites are all very well but their use means that an item is being discarded. Reuse groups, on the other hand, make sure that items that are still perfectly good, but no longer wanted by their owners, are handed over to someone who needs or wants them. This is not a charity, or a business; no money ever changes hands and there is no paperwork either. Items that have been donated include dishes, bicycles, books and even furniture. This idea is worth emulating both for fun and also to care for the environment.

Friends Indeed

Another site that operates a "donation" corner is Chemoangels, where people who are undergoing chemotherapy for cancer are supported by an online net of friends who may occasionally provide tiny items that the person would like. This idea could be adapted locally, as well.

Book Review

Other places that could do with donations, however of a specific kind, are the Rainbow Ward at Mater Dei Hospital and other wards that are the temporary home of sick children. Most families will have children's books that have been outgrown; instead of being left to languish on the shelves, the books could be given a new lease of life and bring a ray of sunshine to a child.

Screen Shots

Screen savers were invented in the days of tube monitors, to stop burn-in, the permanent shadows being branded into the phosphors of PC monitors by static images left on the screen. Flat screens mean this is now no longer necessary. Indeed, Telstra, the biggest phone company in Australia, has now removed all corporate screen savers from the 36,000 computers in its offices, in a bid to save energy. The company claims that the tonnes of carbon dioxide thus avoided are the equivalent of taking 140 cars off the road for a year. Another good example to follow.

Ship Ahoy

Gozo ferries have been known to stop in their tracks, in a manner of speaking, if a VIP appears on the shore just before the ship is leaving Ċirkewwa. Land vehicles, however, do not have this facility. Yet another accident in this black spot indicates that it is not a moment too soon to do something to halt the needless heartache that obtains because of lack of planning. Ordinary people, then, might not be tempted to tackle the road at speed in order to make it to the boat by the skin of their teeth.

Smoke Screams

Daniela Borg Mizzi, manager, public relations, of the Malta Transport Authority, has blithely informed us yet again that "the ADT is committed to review its enforcement procedures on all public transport and will be stepping up actions to curb abuses and to reduce vehicle emissions to a desirable level". One is only left to wonder, therefore, what constitutes a desirable level of vehicle emissions - of the two-wheeled as well as four-wheeled type.

Rough Ride

Transport Minister Austin Gatt said in Parliament last week that few people make use of public transport in Malta because there were never disincentives for those who regularly use their own means of private transport. Evidently, Dr Gatt is one of those who only uses private vehicles if he cannot realise why many commuters simply shun route buses.

Own Goals?

The herd instinct strikes some football lovers who prefer to watch matches in the company of others. However, their anticipated entertainment turns sour when they discover that the rules about no smoking being allowed in public places have fallen by the wayside for the duration of Euro 2008. Barmen and waiters acknowledge ruefully that they "had" to allow patrons to smoke "because of the tension".

Top Flight

A couple bought a one-way ticket from Air Malta; they were charged £151.60. Air Malta could not give them two tickets on the same flight, claiming that the one that left at 1 p.m. from Gatwick was already booked, with only business class seats available. Upon arrival in Gatwick, the couple asked the reservation desk whether it would be possible for the individual travelling at 9 p.m. to change the booking to the earlier flight, depending upon availability. Lo and behold, economy class seats were available, at a £160 increase, despite the fact that, otherwise, the seat would have remained empty - which it did.

Customer Care

British Airways adopted a different attitude. When staff found out that only one person of a couple travelling on the same flight had booked a premium seat, the other person was promptly upgraded to the same level. The difference in attitude makes the decision about which airline to patronise in the future that much easier.