In my youth, during this island’s halcyon days in the 1950s and 1960s, I never imagined I would live long enough to witness the ruin of Malta.

From the roof of my apartment building, I can see 11 cranes looming like juggernauts over Malta’s ‘tourist hub’. I view drab blocks of flats built in all directions, with no planning. From the left side of the roof, I can see the massive, concrete pile of Pender ‘Gardens’ going up like an eyesore over the bay. On my right, I observe how Portomaso has spread its ‘tentacles’ all over the landscape. When I look down from the roof to the street below, I see traffic congestion that lasts most of the day.

Malta International Airport is always boasting that the number of arrivals is going up. The negative impact of those arrivals – including Sliema buses packed with foreigners all year round – is felt by the residents of St Julian’s, where most of them end up.

In my view, cheap flights and the influx of foreigners have been a disaster for Malta. Cheap flights bring unsustainable arrivals and the influx of foreigners has resulted in over-priced rents that many Maltese cannot afford to pay.

Since we joined the EU, I hardly recognise Malta any more. It’s on the way to becoming the Babylon of the Mediterranean.

Goodbye to the beloved Malta of my youth. I’m so glad I had the good fortune to have been born on this once-idyllic Mediterranean island before it was ruined through overbuilding, the influx of foreigners and ‘arrivals’ that keep going up.