Editorial: Bendy summer thoughts

I mean, honestly, it’s the middle of August and I’m at my desk writing this piece rather than camping on some sunny, rat-infested beach in Marsaxlokk. Is that fair? Well actually, my mind has wandered off to some deserted tropical island, cocktail in hand, palm tree swaying, blue seas caressing the sandy shore, and... and that’s not helping me at all to get on with this piece.

I sat down to give my views on the proposed Salina Coast Road upgrade, including the widening of the road and the introduction of proper bicycle lanes, but the topic has really been exhausted already.

Then I thought: What about the other upgrade proposed by Transport Malta, this time at the Kappara junction traffic bottleneck, 17 years overdue? Again, what about it? TM just get on with it for Heaven’s sake; we’re already 17 years late. I can’t take the daily sufferance anymore!

So I moved on to the never-ending saga of the roadworks at Mellieħa-Ċirkewwa-Gozo, which have caused so much inconvenience to us and our foreign guests, especially in the height of such a heatwave.

Yet again, there is only one thing I could think of and that’s accountability, or the lack of it (with apologies to Franco Debono!).

This month also saw the installation of a miniature Berlin Wall-styled pedestrian guard rail at the Mrieħel bypass dividing Mrieħel from Qormi. Commedable and noble action, albeit a tad too late, in favour of saving lives on our roads.

However, how about listening to the residents’ plight that although they’re no chickens, they still want to cross the road to get to the other side – safely!

My thoughts now are on Arriva, but that’s cheating – it would be too easy a subject to pick on, even on this hot summer’s day.

OK, so what about the signs being erected by Transport Malta all over the island for us Maltese. Fantastic, but why are we embarrassed to show that English is our national language too, and that like anything official, signs should be in both English and Maltese. Again, this is far too obvious and is not worth any ink to write about.

Forget the tourists too! Who cares that they are the country’s main source of revenue.

By now I’ve really had enough. My only thoughts are to go home, grab my goggles and rush to the beach.

But hey! Even that’s not as straightforward. I’ll have to control my rage while I’m stuck forever in the heat behind a bendy bus that’s driving me round the bend! I couldn’t resist a dig at Arriva after all!

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