I don't ride the buses, though I probably will if the weather gets a bit crappy and using the bike is a non-starter (parking in Valletta is a bind even with the bike so using a car is plain masochism) so I really can't comment on the situation post-Arriva.

I am a bit wary, though, of taking all the whining at face value. The media clearly subscribes firmly to the philosophy that good news is not news, especially when a spot of Government-bashing can be thrown in, and our national allergy to change is such that any change attracts bitching and moaning of cosmic proportions.

That said, it seems that "can do better" is not a phrase that should only be appended to school reports (as it was to mine on a nauseatingly-repetitive basis) though the fact that so many more people used the system this August as opposed to the last four or whatever must mean something.

But can we stop using the trials and tribulations of the service and the people who use it for a spot of grandstanding every time the fancy takes us?

It's ingrained in politicians that they should seek to see their name in lights (you know what I mean) all the time, but the fact that Sliema's Deputy Mayor doesn't agree with Arriva changing a couple of routes because his constituents (such of them as don't feel a tad betrayed by him, of course) are "marooned" tends to leave me a bit un-moved, because every time I've been through Sliema, it seems to be breeding jolly green giants (pale blue, really) and Sliema residents really do not have the credentials to claim that they are marooned there.

Or is this another instance of everyone wanting everything exactly to his convenience, like the guy who seems to want to have a Gozo ferry waiting for him whenever he rolls up to Cirkewwa?