When I moved to Malta a number of months ago I started to wonder why so many Maltese people talked so loudly. Not being a native speaker, I had no idea what their conversations were about and I therefore presumed that they were simply argumentative.

However, as I came to know more and more Maltese people I realised that, even when we were simply discussing the weather, they would speak loudly.

This became a bit of a quandary to me and, then, after a few weeks, the festas and the fireworks started. I supposed that the poor people living in Malta were simply becoming deafened by a noise pollution of the worst kind that makes the island sound like a war zone rather than the beautiful tourist-friendly country it is meant to be.

At the same time, I realised that my tinnitus was worsening, a very unpleasant experience that makes you feel dizzy, lose your balance and then fall over and hurt yourself.

So it begs the question: why is this being allowed to happen? Why are the doctors and ENT specialists, who must be dealing with an increasing number of hearing-related cases, not lobbying the government to do something about it? Why is the government itself not dealing with the reality that these pointless and horrendous explosions are ruining their citizens’ health? Why is the Maltese media not publicising the fact that, based on everybody I have talked to (both residents and visitors), nobody wants or enjoys these explosions?

Have festas by all means, they are wonderful events. But stop setting off explosions that drive people, pets and car/house alarms mad.

Why can’t a normal brief firework display suffice? Fireworks, incongruously, are not governed by EU noise pollution regulations but these explosions can surely not be deemed to be ‘fireworks they are a noise pollutant and, therefore, should not be exempt!