• Despite several complaints, the regulation about organ donation cards still applies. What is the point of a person wanting to donate all viable organs after death when this decision can be countermanded by the next of kin? It is about time that a person’s wishes are respected; after all, what is written in testaments has to be actuated.

Dreary

• Christmas has been turned from a feast to a tawdry festival, at least in some respects. What was the point of having half-dressed girls, definitely inappropriately dressed for the weather, parading down Republic Street, Valletta, on December 24? Some of the groups of children were suitably dressed in seasonal costumes that did in no way impede their dancing moves.

Digital

• For some time now, clocks at certain bus stops and junctions have not been showing the correct time. It would be a good idea to replace them with digital timepieces if they are irreparably broken.

Detour

• One wonders what would happen if a fire should break out inside a household, office or shop in the general area of the Birkirkara open market. The stalls sprawl over several streets, making access to any kind of emergency vehicle next to impossible.

Decisions

• The desire to avail oneself of bargains is the reason why many people fall for spam e-mails. When these are received, and the offer being made is not specified, recipients ought to be wary of clicking on unfamiliar links.

Debatable

• An e-mail doing the rounds, obviously meant to milk dry the bank accounts of gullible people reads, in part: “Dear client! According to the new procedures of the Ministry of Finance, we have to change the rules of record keeping on your bank account. We ask you to familiarise yourself with the said rules. To confirm your agreement, print out the last sheet, sign it (sic) and send it back to us.” This would give the criminals access to all relevant details of people who would not even have noticed that the name of the bank is not even indicated.

Delicacies

• The sight and smell of fresh, usually home-made, produce for sale in fundraising activities and flea markets is a temptation to many. However, there is no way of knowing how long the product would have been exposed to the open air and, consequently, possibly to pollution and insects.

Decisions

• Several Arriva bus drivers accede to commuters’ wishes when they ask for heaters to be switched on in inclement weather. What these people do not realise is that, once they alight, they will have to face the change in temperature anyway.

Dowdy

• One mobile telephony company is offering “surprise top-up” gifts. This, of course, is a ‘luck of the draw’ issue but it is amazing how all the prizes received by all the members of one family were the same: free pizzas.

Definite

• It is interesting to note how invitations to gamble that appear in the print and audiovisual media appear to be multiplying by time. Some systems give non-winners the opportunity to use their tickets for another go at winning. Apart from that, several charities send packets of tickets to those who usually donate money but who may not be in a position to sell these tickets and, therefore, feel constrained to buy them all themselves.

Destinations

• ‘Your 70s’ is the new tagline for the group of buses serving the routes ending in Żurrieq and Qrendi. Similar designations for other routes will help people identify their own route buses from further afar. This is especially helpful in places through which several buses with different destinations pass.

Difference

• Animal cruelty appears to mean different things to different people. Vegetarians, anti-circus protesters, the anti-hunting lobby and other groups all have different ideas about what constitutes ‘brutality’. At this point, one wonders whether certain activists are merely showing off because they want to be in the limelight.

Dull

• The halcyon weather undoubtedly helped the publicity surrounding the inauguration of the replacement of the Opera House in Valletta. One notes that the performing area is covered; had it rained, the actors, singers, dancers and musicians would have been spared the bother of trying to balance their umbrellas and any props they would need at the same time. Not so, the audience – the ones in the back rows would have been bothered by the umbrellas of those in front of them.

Dubious

• It is not unusual for us, as an insular nation, to snigger about how the EU or other foreign countries, or religions, make fools of themselves by following the letter of the law and land themselves in ridiculous situations. Yet, we have done pretty much the same thing when a circus is asked to move just a stone’s throw away from where it had first broken ground to justify a clause in a contract.

Demotion

• People tend to mention the “two major political parties” just as they refer to the “two major banks”. This could explain why the third political party tends to be relegated to the sidelines during political activities held on a national scale just as the third bank has to strive harder than the other two when it comes to being in the limelight in national activities.

Decimation

• Those who are in favour of so-called hunting trips insist that it is only the sick and old animals that are culled, in order to ensure the survival of the fittest. Yet, it is obvious that such an attitude does not assuage the thrill of the chase that leads one to participate in such tours in the first place and, in any case, the animals they are allowed to kill do not have targets painted on their sides.