• In a pathetic effort to be funny, Boris Johnson called a dinosaur a jack-knifed diplodocus. In a master-stroke of bad public relations, the Transport Ministry rose to the bait and tried to take a leaf from his book, and also failed dismally; not least because the surname of the Mayor of London was incorrectly spelled. Is this the new Ping-Pong diplomacy?
Pair
• It has been noted that the London Transport Authority puts up notices politely urging passengers to Please Keep Feet Off Seats. These notices, for some reason, do not appear on the buses that have been imported into Malta; why?
Package
• In the run-up to the general election, political parties tend to pander to different minorities in an effort to net a couple of extra votes. This time around, however, they seem to have forgotten to offer the moon and a bag in which to put it to people with mobility disabilities and their families or carers.
Picture
• Another minority that seems to have attracted the attention of politicians for the wrong reasons, is that section of the populace with mental health problems. Vocabulary connected with this condition has been bandied about left, right and centre in accusatory tones by those who ought to know better than to resort to this type of schoolyard bullying.
Paperweights
• The House Family Affairs Committee, in the discussion about teen pregnancies, indicated inter alia that the number of teenage mothers who opted to continue their studies was low and that the “authorities offered services to prevent schoolgirls from getting pregnant…” It would be interesting to discover whether the reason for the former issue is a lack of a strong support system or merely a fatalistic attitude, and what, exactly, was meant by the second comment.
Parts
• Computer hardware is sometimes discarded because parts are unavailable. When in comes to an expired UPS battery, however, it is not worth getting a new one, because it costs almost as much as the UPS itself, and would have no guarantee. Yet, no doubt, there are many such parts available at the Mrieħel Bulky Refuse Bring-In Site that could be salvaged. We are encouraged to reduce, re-use, recycle – and in such instances, we are being forbidden from doing so.
Preparations
• An EU Directive will prohibit the re-use of glass jars and bottles for the selling of home-made preserves, decreeing it “an unsanitary practice”. This means that more glass will end up in dumping sites, or at least recycled. Since most local fund-raising drives include the selling of home-made preserves, one wonders whether anything may be done to avoid having this rule being applied to Malta.
Priorities
• A tiny kitten that was run over by a car in St Edward Street, Qormi, was removed well before 24 hours had gone by. That is real attention to detail, and efficiency.
Permissions
• The pelican lights by the Bank of Valletta head office, in Canon Road, Santa Venera, stopped working a long time ago. The zebra crossing’s white lines are nearly invisible; motorists assume that since the lights are broken, the crossing is no longer actually useable. This means that on occasion up to 20 cars pass by, in either direction, before a person waiting on the crossing has safe passage.
Probability
• How are consumers to know whether items for sale by weight at a delicatessen counter in a market are safe to purchase? Often, the same shops carry the same kind of items in their original packaging, be it jars, bottles or tins. A close look at the labels indicates a very near expiry date.
Perseverance
• This column has long been asking for a shelf or two at local council offices to be utilised for a good purpose. People could stop by and place books they no longer need, for others to borrow or take. This would encourage reading and offset some expenses for those who are on a tight budget.
Parcel
• It would also be a good idea were at least one day a month set aside for the attendance of a person from Maltapost, so that one could pay bills without having to travel to the next town or village where there is a sub-post office. After all the local council is the link between the central Government and the people.
Partnership
• It was a good idea to have the facility to donate blood instituted at Mater Dei Hospital on Monday afternoons. However, it would have made more sense to make this service available in the mornings, so that people who are accompanying patients to day clinics or outpatients’ departments would be better served and enabled to serve others while already on the premises.
Perplexed
• The public cannot understand why a young man was deprived of his mother, who was handed a prison sentence for something over which she probably had no control. This type of justice contrasts sharply with other rulings wherein people who have committed grievous bodily harm on others are allowed to walk out of court free, albeit with suspended sentences.
Pets
• It would be interesting to find out whether people who purchase animals such as squirrels from pet shops are followed through in order to ascertain whether their animals get all the required inoculations, and whether the animal’s living quarters are reasonably large. There is, of course, nothing that can be done if these animals have found their way into Malta in a clandestine manner and we will only know about them when they escape.
Patch
• There is a deep trench running along half Msida Road, Santa Venera, and for some reason, work is not being carried out throughout the mornings. This is a pity because valuable time is being lost as hundreds of cars use that street daily in order to get down to Ħamrun or up towards Rabat or Birkirkara.