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Showing posts from June, 2009

Why the trees disappeared from Sacred Island of Malta...

Yes, folks. Malta was full of trees. It is reported in history books by many travelers that heralded to our shores, some willingly, like Al Himyari ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harbi_al-Himyari ), others accidentally, like St. Paul, the bearded chap in robes, you remember him? They all reported on how green the island was, covered with woods, and inhabited by a relentless humanoid species, which our patron saint aptly referred to as Barbarians (grazzi ta Sur San Pawl, ey! ). In the year 6,250BC, in Bir Lonzu, limits of where today we have Bubaqra, at the time when there was a temple construction boom (yes, it started much earlier...), Dudu and Duda, with their little boy Dudinu, started cutting trees, more and more... Until there were NONE left... or almost... Dudinu grew and formed the Malta Logging Company, that boomed for some time but went in liquidation, centuries later as the last Balluta tree fell over Sciberras Hill, in circa 1530AD. And do you want to know the latest? Why wa

Drivers’ Tales. We reached a stage where it stopped being funny…

Driving my way from Mellieha is no mere undertaking. Keeping aside the driving habits of most of us Maltesers, the roads we drive our battered vehicles upon are not exactly the epitome of perfection. I wonder if there is an authority in charge which actually checks, I mean, literally investigates the quality of the asphalt or tarmac, the realistic location of signage, the consistence of road surfaces, the legibility and visibility of street markings, the street lighting, and so on. Just off the former (now derelict) Belleview site, one reaches a huge roundabout, or what a tourist may describe as a ‘garden-like circular structure’. Pay double attention as the traffic island leading down to this roundabout, from Mellieha centre, is high and bushy. Its shrubs obstruct your view of any oncoming traffic swerving around the circus - if not for a bus or truck - as the latter are high so slowing down at this stage helps. It is obvious one will need to give way but if driving to work late and i