On the Dot

• Getting into Mater Dei Hospital by car is not always easy. There have been instances when a train of 10 buses clogged both lanes leading to the main entrance. Why are buses allowed to go right up to the main entrance? Has any evaluation been made on whether vibrations affect the X-ray equipment situated beneath the second roundabout? It would make more sense to have buses stop by the University and have a shuttle service for the hospital. That would ease traffic and avoid accidents.

Schooled

• The grounds of St Theresa Junior Lyceum, at Mrieħel, especially the area along Bontadini and Castagna streets, have been allowed to become an eyesore. This is a pity. A few hours’ work on it could make it a welcoming sight and a pleasant place for the young ladies and passers-by.

Sting

• A lot of confusing, conflicting, pseudo-information is being bandied about regarding how to keep tiger mosquitoes at bay and what to do if one is bitten by them. It would be of help if the Health Department came out with a pamphlet or, at least, a press release as happened with the scabies infection that was surely not as widespread.

Satisfaction

• Plans are in hand for a massive excavation exercise at the junction of Naxxar Road in Lija with a view to solving the rainwater flooding problem once and for all. The Water Services Corporation is finally consulting Transport Malta about the matter. However, in this case, one hopes the agreement will not be reached in the immediate future because the floods that are usual in this area will no doubt make the job more hazardous to workers and more expensive.

Sickness

• Cats do not possess significant amounts of lactase. Feeding them dairy produce may cause inflammation of the pancreas. Yet, in a children’s magazine, an advertorial encouraging them to drink more milk features a cartoon cat, with a glass of milk in its paw, pointing at its own portrait flexing its biceps with the other.

Sillier

• A packed Arriva “bendy” bus kept on going even though passengers indicated they wanted to disembark at a particular stop in Sliema. The driver simply proceeded at full speed to the next one, quite a distance away from where they wished to get off. He then instructed them to “call the minister” about his behaviour should they have any complaints.

Saddening

• The Old Bakery Street side of the Manoel Theatre, across the road from the main entrance of St Albert The Great College, in Valletta, desperately needs attention. The whole block, including the apertures, has a sad look about it, quite at variance with the majestic interior.

Sprawl

• Whenever a local council decides to move or remove outright any bins, skips or bring-in sites, the chances are that the dumping problem will become worse and not better. People will still deposit rubbish where the containers used to be, through force of habit or as a tacit challenge to the council. The alternative is going to the next town and dumping the rubbish in the ever-increasing number of skips there.

Squatters

• Why is it that so long after the service was inaugurated, the Arriva bus drivers still lounge about at the Mall waiting for their shift change? Some of them have resorted to bringing out stone blocks to sit on the pavement. Others lounge about on the benches and others stand around in groups, talking. This is very undignified.

Slabs

• Much ado was made about how the paving of South Street, Valletta, was even better and more hard-wearing than the old cobbles, before everywhere was covered with the insidious tarmac. The street surface has already darkened into an ugly dark grey and parts of the stones are broken, although traffic is restricted.

Straitened

• A lot has been said about how High Street, Ħamrun cannot possibly take parking on either side because there are too many arguments between drivers of vehicles coming from opposite directions when one of them does not want to give way and too many bottlenecks when two wide vehicles happen to meet. With the width of Arriva buses, this problem has been compounded.

Soot

• Some months ago, we were informed, in a technical report by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, that the Marsa power station was “the most likely source of the black dust” that has been bothering people in the areas adjacent to Marsa. One wonders whether any time soon we will obtain confirmation without any hint of a doubt.

Suggestion

• So far, the promised new, improved identity cards have not yet materialised. One hopes it is not too late for the person’s blood group to be included somewhere with the other details. It is true that one’s group is tested upon arrival in a hospital after an accident, should a transfusion be necessary, but this exercise could probably save time and lives.

Seasoned

• Parents and teachers complain that children and teens spend too much time gazing into a monitor of some sort. And, yet, practically the only type of other entertainment available to them is clubbing in unsuitable places. How about getting local councils, parishes and area schools (be they public or private) to cooperate such that the youngsters have somewhere to congregate and a roster of adult volunteers from the community to attend the same place?