It has been several weeks since part of the wall at Triq il-Maltin Internati u Eziljati in Mtarfa has collapsed. People had long been worried that this was going to happen one day or another but complaints had always fallen on death ears.

After all these weeks the road is still closed. You might speculate that it's because the repairs involve a lot of work. Well, I'm not excluding that, but if one has three to four people working for a few hours a day excluding weekends, and sometimes nobody appears on site at all, then no wonder it takes so long. The local council sent the residents a notice ending with the usual ironic slogan: "We'll try to create the least inconvenience possible."

The road has been closed for people leaving Mtarfa, an idea which I think is stupid as normally people are in a hurry in the morning as they head out to work. At least let them take the short way in the morning and the long one when coming back from work.

The council has now stationed wardens who, I suppose, will start issuing tickets to those who try to go through anyway. I think it's better if the wardens were instructed to at least control the traffic as it passes both ways. It's not something that seems impossible to achieve.

But what the residents are most angry about is that the road has been closed to cars but not to the tourist trains which are operated by Melita Trains. So a car belonging to a "normal" citizen cannot get out of Mtarfa through this road but for a train the size of six cars, full of passengers, but operated by a private business, it's safe. And the local council wants us to believe that we're important to it? Maybe it's just the vote they're referring to!