On a recent trip into Valletta, three things came to mind, which, to save space, I will include in this one letter.

Firstly, looking at Renzo Piano's designs, it appears to me as though his brief, or remit, was to design a grand Parliament building, which he has done beautifully.

However, it also seems as though, as an afterthought, he was asked to design something "cheap and cheerful" for the Opera House and City Gate, for the government to feed the peasants some crumbs from the table and hope that it would not be noticed that all the effort and creativity was for the Parliament.

Making my way to Upper Barrakka, I met a large group of young language students. They stopped to look at the statue of George Borg Olivier, but when a student asked for information about him, two of the three leaders (who appeared to be the same age as the students) shrugged, saying they knew nothing of him, while the third (male) leader sniggered and made a very childish joke about the great man's name. How shameful!

Finally, on the bus trip back home, I was saddened to pass the empty doorway, in Pietà, of Żeppi Cassar the tinsmith, who would usually be seen working at his hobby, until his recent demise in a tragic car accident.