Those of us who have ever had to travel for medical treatment, either for ourselves or for our loved ones, know full well the unexpected hassles and hazards that such a trip entails. And that's just the logistics.

That is one reason I have been following with great interest the Puttinu Cares for Children campaign, which has culminated in the inauguration of three apartments in Sutton, UK, to accommodate parents of Maltese children who travel to London for cancer treatment. The statistics tell us that at least 10 children and 'tweens contract cancer annually.

I was especially proud to be Maltese when I saw that both Kate Gonzi and Michelle Muscat were in the delegation that was present at the ceremony. Archbishop Paul Cremona celebrated Mass during the inauguration.

Norman Hamilton and his indefatigable Bla Agenda team were there too. At the end of this month, a special edition of his magazine programme will be broadcast and viewers will be able to donate money towards this worthy cause.

More good news, the opportunity of a lifetime has presented itself to Magic 91.7 FM listeners who are ice-skating aficionados: the chance to win an exclusive masterclass with the world-famous St Petersburg State Ballet.

You don't have to jump through hoops, literally or figuratively, to be in with a chance either; nor do you have to answer inane questions about whether Pavolva is a person or a dessert. You could, however, be creative and say something along the lines of how you always wanted to know what a beached whale would feel like in the Antarctica - or come up with your own reason why you would be deserving of the masterclass.

The St Petersburg State Theatre will be performing Swan Lake on Ice in Malta at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, which is being transformed into a grand ice arena for the occasion.

You don't even have to make a call or send a letter. Simply send your entries to info@balletonice.com. The winners will be announced on Magic's More Music Breakfast Show on December 19 at 8 a.m.

And just because I was dared by the lady in the pink blouse on the bus to Buġibba to come up with three nice things to say this week...

Clifford Borg-Marks, the same Maltese filmmaker who produced and directed The Hobby, a world class documentary on top Subbuteo players travelling from the US to China, winner of the Guirlande d'Honneur at the Sport Movies and TV International Festival 2005, has had another triumph.

Borg-Marks's feature-length documentary Sinews has won an honourable mention at the prestigious 26th Sport Movies and TV International Festival in Milan under the auspices of the Federation Internationale Cinema Television Sportifs (FICTS). This documentary by Borg-Marks explores and records the history of sport in China. It also asks about the ideologies that make Chinese sportsmanship what it is; an especially salient topic given the then approaching 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Included in the feature is a compilation of footage from a score of Chinese films that portray different sports, as well as interviews with people behind the making of these films and the people about whose lives the films were based.

So, apart from asking whether sport in China is yet another facet of socialism, or a means to build people's stamina, or to get rid of the "the sick man of Asia" appellation, Sinews brings us interviews with people in the league of Chen Jingkai, Zheng Fengrong, Rong Guotuan, Mu Xiangxiong and Lang Ping - China's 'Iron Hammer'.

Meanwhile, the person who proofread the script for last Wednesday's 4 p.m. Radju Malta news must have been having an off day, unless it was the newscaster who let him down.

There were at least three blatant mistakes that even the most careless of listeners would have noticed - one of which was, yet again, a number in Maltese being said incorrectly. I wish that these were written out in full - not least so that, even within the same bulletin, when it includes an insert clip, they would not be said differently. The same thing goes for the pronunciation of proper nouns - and some common ones too.

I can't help wondering, meanwhile, why the names of colleagues appear to stick in some people's claws, so much so that they are never ready, willing, or able to tell us who won which award, and who will be presenting a programme on the morrow when they cannot make it.

I also heard a very, very rude comment to the effect that "someone else on another station" is presenting a programme which is not as "state-of-the-art" as the one on which the comment was made. Talk about arrogance.

Finally, I caught part of the extremely interesting discussion on whether there is life, nothing, or reincarnation after death, on Ray Calleja's aptly-called 1205: Il-Programm tan-Nies.

The views expressed would have made some people's hair curl. I was particularly amused to hear how God, whom we believe to be loving and just, "ought to" do this and that, just because someone says so. These points of view took me back to my RE lessons, when one particular nun never failed to remind us that we each took a glass with us to heaven ("if you manage to make it there, girls!"), and this would determine the amount of beatific vision, rapture, or whatever to which we were entitled.

Unfortunately, my request for a copy of the whole discussion so that I could comment further was not met in time for this column's deadline.

television@timesofmalta.com