Comments about abusers of the environment seem to crop up all the time. One wonders if these abusers are above the law or whether they are being allowed to do so. One case in mind, one that I experience from time to time, is the parking of a garbage truck just across from the Immaculate Conception chapel on the main road in St Julians.

Brandishing “No Woman, No Cry” on the windshield, the truck is parked in a way that blocks at least half the sidewalk, sometimes taking enough of it that a mother pushing a baby stroller will be more than hard-pressed to get by. Regardless, taking the obvious smell of garbage as a given, the motor is left running. Passers-by cannot avoid getting a “warm breeze” hitting them. It also blows onto the tables of the outdoor area of the restaurant close by.

Luck is on the side of the fortunate pedestrians, a good number, I suspect, who find out why this truck is parked there for a significant length of time. A smaller truck arrives overloaded with large plastic garbage bins and plastic bags filled with garbage. Bins are unloaded onto the sidewalk and garbage transferred to the larger truck. I don’t know how long the whole procedure takes. Since I don’t go past the area on a regular basis, I can only suspect that it is a daily occurrence and while most people are on their way to catch a bus to work or on their morning stroll.

The sad part is that this happens in full view of the police station some 200 metres away and, most probably, also seen by wardens driving past.