In the late 1950s, I used public transport to go from my home in Santa Venera for private lessons in Sliema. Back then, riding a Maltese bus was an easy-going affair.

In addition to the bus driver, each bus had a conductor who was in charge of collecting fares. Buses were not overcrowded and most of the passengers were Maltese.

As the bus drove along the Sliema front to my destination at Balluta, I used to admire the terraced houses and the beautifully constructed blocks of flats. The contrast between Sliema and the Ħamrun-Santa Venera area, where I lived, was very evident to me.

Sliema in the 1950s contained a large contingent of British naval and military personnel and their families. It was a quiet and pleasant place to live, in contrast to Santa Venera’s High Street at Cannon Road, where occasional street brawls in the early 1950s made the neighbourhood look like Texas!

At Christmastime, my father used to send me with a driver to deliver gifts to his friends and business associates in Sliema.

I always enjoyed these errands because they provided me with the opportunity to visit beautiful homes and view pleasant neighbourhoods in Victoria Avenue, Dingli Street and at Qui-si-Sana.

Today’s young people will never know the charm of old Sliema and its relaxed pace of life. The terraced houses and the other fine buildings on the front have been demolished, and some of the side streets nowadays look like concrete “canyons”.