On Sunday, I was woken up at 1.30 a.m. by the sound of tin cans banging and elastic bands twanging. At first I thought I was still dreaming but the sound of a mosquito going into a dive to suck blood out of me made me realise I was indeed awake!
... residents need to strike back at them ...- Joseph Farrugia, Attard
No doubt it’s the same old story: Gianpula disturbing the peace again; trying to get back to sleep was impossible.
Then, suddenly, the noise abated and I sighed in relief but then I heard the DJ giving marching orders to his club patrons “1, 2, 3, 4” and a whole bunch of pointless words to encourage the people to dance... as if they were deafened zombies and needed someone to order them to dance.
No sooner had the DJ stopped yelling, a weird and uncomfortable music began screeching and blaring away: it sounded like a snake pipe tune, only confirming to me that, indeed, the club patrons were deafened zombies.
Help, I can’t stand it anymore! I called the emergency service 112 (no point in calling district police stations) where they told me that they would notify the club to lower the volume. Despite this, the noise carried on.
No licence or permit would allow the following: disturbing the public peace after 11 p.m. by using a microphone (DJ); this includes neighbours and neighbouring towns and villages and playing music with excessive volume after 11 p.m.
At 2.50 a.m. I called the emergency services and informed them again that the noise was keeping me awake. The lady informed me they would again tell Gianpula to lower the noise level. Unfortunalty, nothing happened. Perhaps it was lowered a fraction but was readjusted to a louder level, in pure defiance or no action was taken.
At 3 a.m., the sound of fireworks exploding broke the still of night for 30 seconds.
All hope of sleep now went out the window.
At 4 a.m. precisly, the noise stopped. Peace and quiet finally; even the dogs stopped barking!
I fully sympathise with Anthony Borg (July 28) about the state of affairs in Attard. For years, the appeals of thousands of citizens in Attard and other afflicted areas have been ignored and even ridiculed by the law enforcement authorities.
During the night of July 28, after 1 a.m., my family was being serenaded, at full volume in the privacy of our bedrooms, by some moron singing Delilah as part of the activities of the Farsons Beer Festival. My wife called the Rabat police station to ask them to take action. The retort was that she was being arrogant and the police officer at the other end of the line actually hung up! Turning in my bed, I was accompanying the singing prodigy with the lyrics: “He stood there squawking… I took the knife in my hand and he yelled no more…”. Out of respect for readers, I will refrain from quoting the non-copyrighted R-rated version.
The situation is both farcical and tragic. Like Mr Borg, I fully support the efforts of Stefan Attard, the mayor in Attard, who is appealing to the authorities to see reason. So far, his efforts have fallen on deaf ears. Mr Cordina needs the support of Attard residents and the voice of protest should also be joined by citizens and their representatives in other localities who are also being subjected to this abuse. This has been going on for years and it is high time the matter is addressed through stronger lobbying and action.
Mr Borg aptly asks: “Who in his right mind gives an operating licence to play such loud music after 11 p.m. so close to residential areas?” The answer should be simple. It is about time to send a strong message that votes can be noisy too.
If these outlets and their backers are hurting us with their noise, residents need to strike back at them with a louder bang.