I have just seen on You Tube the plans for Paola Square for the near future. Well those dreaded palm trees not only rule our coast but are going to rule the centre of our towns now too. The square is becoming a tarmacked desert, with some shade being offered only to those who opt to go for a coffee.

And what features are there? Just some water spouts, the same as are being done everywhere else, and fewer seats for our elderly population, from where the only view we will be able to enjoy would be the clouds in the sky, returning to our homes choking after having inhaled so much traffic fumes.

What is going to supply our much needed fresh air? There seems to be a general plot against trees in the name of better road construction.

Our architects seem to have found evidence that our trees are harming the roads and what lies below them and what they do is just eliminate the trees.

Haven’t they seen the boulevards in Italy and France? And the Linden trees lining most of the streets in Germany? All of them old and big enough to give an oxygen supply, a natural touch to the man-made urban environment, and while so many of them often shed so many leaves, the local authorities clean up regularly. The trees that our architects (or whoever is responsible) are recommending – just as the ones they recommended for the Senglea waterfront – perform poorly in our weather. It was wise of our forefathers to plant the sturdier kind of trees.

As for the rest of the square, I thought I was going to find a monument to Grandmaster De Paule. I also thought I was going to see (in some manner) a square like Sir Paul Boffa garden. Funnily enough, there is also the semblance of a water fountain. Is this what we are opting for when the two fountains in Paola do not work (Lorry Sant Garden and St Ubaldesca square)?

I wish the people of Paola would get more involved in enhancing their environment.