• On the feast of the Assumption of Our Lady (Santa Marija), this young man, using a wire brush, voluntarily scraped off slippery moss from the concrete platform at a bathing area in Xgħajra. He rendered the area next to the ladder safe for children and the elderly. Perhaps local councils can take his cue and embark on moss clearance from concrete jetties used by swimmers on a regular basis. Such a move will surely be appreciated by parents and the elderly, as was this man’s effort by swimmers on the day.

In-your-face

• Such a sight would be unwelcome anywhere, let alone in a seaside resort in August. The picture above was taken last Monday at noon in Tunnara Promenade, Mellieħa Bay. Residents had been phoning the local council since early morning to clean up the mess but, evidently, this did not feature high on its priority list. Shame!

Blow horn

• The clock had not even struck 6.30 on Tuesday morning when the loyal and punctual gas cylinders distributor was already blowing the loud horn of his truck in the area close to St Catherine Home, in Attard. Have these people – and the powers that be – never heard of noise pollution? More importantly, do they know anything about customer care, nay, basic courtesy?

Wrong timing

• Two police officers were seen taking measurements near the centre-strip at the foot of Ġlormu Cassar Avenue, Valletta last Thursday morning. Nothing wrong in that, except for the timing: about 7am when many people are heading to Valletta to report for work. Couldn’t the job be done at a quieter hour?

Lift fountain

• The water fountain feature at the ground level of the Barrakka lift was quite attractive. Yet, for some reason, it has been dry for weeks on end. Is it a matter of maintenance, finance or negligence?

Narrow patch

• The surface of a short stretch of St Joseph High Road, Ħamrun – on the side of St Cajetan band club – was dug up, presumably to do some patching work. Yet, it remained in that state for days on end, obviously creating a bottleneck in a main road, probably one of the busiest in the country. How can the local council allow such inconvenience to motorists and residents alike?

Let it leak

• A leakage in St Andrew Street, Lija, was reported last Monday morning. By Friday morning water was still seeping out. Either Malta does not really have a water shortage problem or, alternatively, something is very wrong at Water Services Corporation when it comes to reacting to such emergency situations. If this amounts to an emergency for WSC, that is.

So confusing

• For the umpteenth time, Birbal Road in Balzan was closed for traffic last week. Motorists who took Old Railway Road – running parallel with Birbal Road – towards Birkirkara were faced with a dilemma on reaching the corner with Kannizzati Road. There, a permanent traffic sign barred turning left towards Birbal Road but another, temporary one, indicated that direction as a diversion to Birbal Road!

Stone menace

• A worried reader sent in this photograph he took at Xlendi showing tables and chairs for use by patrons of a catering establishment below a wall of a dilapidated building. Being an architect, he considers the wall to be very unstable, as evidenced by cracks, broken stone lintel and general degradation. The structure, he fears, could easily be destabilised by strong winds or other factors.

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