On the Dot

• At least one local council has sent an employee around spraying weed killer but nobody bothered to gather the dead grass. When residents called to complain about the use of herbicides, mainly because stray cats and dogs have been known to gnaw at them, the clerk replied there ought to be no stray cats and dogs in any area. This was uncalled for because no efforts were ever made to remove such animals by the said council.

Noises

• Bus-cades have become the norm rather than the exception, for each group of graduands. Is there not a law against noise pollution? Whereas it is true the result of many years of toil deserves celebrating, the fact remains that sometimes these so-called celebrations get out of hand. Respect for others, after all, is one of the things supposedly taught in the country’s highest seat of learning.

Medications

• Many of the professionals who give advice on different magazine programmes in the media appear to be concentrating too much on cures rather than prevention. Some of them, on the other hand, appear to think inoculations are the be-all and end-all of preventative measures against certain conditions or maladies that may never happen. Why is this being allowed?

Prevention

• Speaking of prevention rather than cure, why did the authorities not pounce at the suggestion by Sedqa to widen the rights the police have to subject a person to a breathalyser test? Given this is the season to be jolly and that some only seem to be able to only manage this by resorting to alcohol, there is not a moment to lose.

Information

• It is important that people who man the Enquiries desk at Mater Dei Hospital be fully informed of which consultants are not available for any reason and if they are available on which days they are on duty. This prevents a lot of hardship, especially to those who have to catch two buses to get to the hospital and who are not too steady on their legs.

Journey

• The 9.40 a.m. bus from Valletta to Żurrieq on November 30 left its 20 passengers stranded in front of One Studios at Marsa after it developed a fault the driver said was “due to the gasket”. They had to wait, standing in the street, for over half an hour for the next scheduled bus to take them up. How often are public vehicles obliged to undergo service?

Channelled

• Would cable TV subscribers be blamed if they now wonder how many of the channels they actually pay for in fact cost nothing to the service providers having just learnt that Living TV is being aired in Malta illegally? Also, would they be faulted if they point an accusing finger at the Malta Communications Authority and wonder why it allows consumers to be fleeced?

Artificiality

• A Dutch study would seem to indicate trees in public parks where there is wi-fi radiation are dying sooner and in greater numbers than their counterparts where the free service is not offered. One wonders whether there are plans to have a similar study carried out in Malta, seeing that the same places covered by free wi-fi facilities are those where children gather to play. Meanwhile, perhaps, it is better to limit one’s time in such places.

Placed

• What is the idea behind the proliferation of new street signs? If an old one is still serviceable and indicates the name of the street correctly, it ought to be reserved as part of the heritage. If it is not, either because it is broken or because the name of the street has changed, it ought to be removed and replaced forthwith. It makes no sense to attach a new plaque half way over on an old one such that the latter remains partly visible.

Squared

• The idea behind the piazza in front of the Tarxien parish church was to have the ground looking like monochrome crazy paving. Something went wrong between the plans and their interpretation because the area looks as if someone went over freshly-laid tarmac with a wrecking ball. Some bits are missing and there are some very wide spaces between the shapes, which gaps are filled with dirty water when it rains.

Plugged

• The Malta Standards Authority has recently reminded all economic operators they are to sell only electical equipment and appliances having three-pin plugs or suitable adaptors. However, most people are still not aware the use of multi-plugs is dangerous. This is a point worth making, especially during Yuletide, when one tends to need more outlets than are readily available in a given area in the home.

Dogged

• Despite the by-laws regarding dog messes, people are still to be seen going around with dusty plastic bags knotted to the leashes of their dogs, indicating that these have been there a long time. Moreover, it is also the habit of dog owners to sit down somewhere, let their animals loose to do their business and take some exercise, and whistle to them when it is time to go home. This is irresponsible and also potentially dangerous.

Communication

• The police, or, rather, the top officers, still resist giving press briefings in cases of serious crime, as was certainly the cowardly planting of the bomb at Transport Malta offices, They fail to realise this could lead to a more cooperative public and, so, more useful information coming their way. But then they issue a picture of a wanted man and make an appeal for information in as bland a manner as possible. They certainly need a good lecture in press relations and a visit to, say, Scotland Yard should suffice.

onthedot@timesofmalta.com