Diverse Ramblings

Public Transport Association - bunch of thugs

Where I should be is at work.

Where I am is at home.

Why?

Because thugs in the Public Transport Association attacked vehicles providing the emergency bus service.

Just to make things clear, the Government has the ADT - the Malta Transport Authority - and they have a contract employing bus drivers (who are part of the ATP - the Public Transport Association) to provide public transport for people in Malta. The ATP is on strike over the liberalisation of hearses, and the ADT is doing what it can to help people left stranded without public transport. So the ADT, a Government entity, was providing an emergency bus service as from today.

Last night I printed off the list of emergency bus routes that were going to be provided, and intended to use them to get to work, which for me involves one bus ride to Marsa, and then making a connection with another bus route.

This morning I left the house half-an-hour earlier than usual, at 6:45am, to allow for possible inefficiencies in the emergency routes.

After I had been waiting on the bus stop for a few minutes, an older gentleman stopped his car to offer lifts. Another person accepted the offer and got in the passenger seat, and I felt safe enough to accept too and got in the back. He dropped me off in Marsa as requested, and I think he is a fantastic example of one human being helping another.

At the Marsa bus stop, just after 7am, I phoned the Malta Transport Authority freephone helpline (which actually wasn't free) to check whether the emergency service was in fact running. A very nice lady spoke to me and said that yes, the service was running, and the buses departed Valletta every half-an-hour.

Shortly after speaking to her, I saw one of the emergency buses drive past, it had just been through Cottonera and was heading back to Valletta. There was a sign in the windscreen listing the villages it passed through, there was someone with a walkie-talkie in the front passenger seat, and the back was full of people.

So, reassured that the service was indeed running and that I now knew what to look out for, I waited.

And waited.

And waited and waited and waited.

In the next forty-five minutes, I didn't see any other emergency buses heading back to Valletta, nor did I see the bus I was waiting for. I decided to talk to the nice lady at the Malta Transport Authority again to ask if I was in the right place, but all I got was an 'engaged' signal, which I thought was odd since before I was put on hold by an automatic system before my call was answered.

I thought that maybe I was standing on the wrong bus-stop, so I walked to another part of the intersection where my bus would certainly have to pass though, and waited there.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited and waited and waited.

Eventually the freephone line went back to the automatic system instead of the engaged signal, but I wasn't put through to an operator and was sent to an answering machine instead. I wanted to know if the service was still running, but given that in an hour and a half of standing in Marsa I had only seen one bus, it was pretty obvious that the service had been disrupted.

Incidentally, in that hour-and-a-half in Marsa, not one person stopped to offer a lift. I can understand that many people would not feel safe offering lifts to strangers, and I doubt that any of them would have been of much use to me, but in all that time I was the only person on the bus stops and it would have been nice to have seen a little solidarity.

As time wore on, I phoned work, first to tell them that I was stranded, and then to tell them that I wasn't coming in at all. I phoned my Dad to ask if he could check the news to see if there was anything about the emergency service, but there was nothing. I tried using WAP on my mobile to get the latest news, but there wasn't anything newer than yesterday evening.

Eventually, at 8:45am, two hours after leaving home, I gave up and headed back.

On foot.

In the mid-morning sun.

In July.

With no shade.

Uphill.

If you have any imagination at all, you should have a pretty good idea of how I feel about that.

It takes around an hour to walk home from Marsa, so I stopped off on the way to cool down a bit, which is where I heard on the radio that the emergency bus service had been suspended because some thugs had attacked the vehicles.

This is so unfair, why shouldn't I be allowed to go to work? I am already furious that the bus drivers have suspended the unreliable service that I rely on in order to get to and from work, but how dare the ATP attack the emergency bus service? How would they feel if someone else did the same thing to them?

As things currently stand, the Public Transport Association owes me

• A day of vacation leave (which I had to take today since I couldn't get to work)

• Half a litre of water for dehydration

• Seven centimetres of elastoplast for my four new blisters received while walking home

• About 500 Euro compensation for emotional trauma and mild heatstroke

• An apology

Since I am unlikely to get any of those things (the one I really, really want is the first one) I hope that the Government sticks up for me, the little guy, and really sticks it to the ATP where it hurts - in their pockets.

Austin Gatt, you are my hero because of the 60,000 Euro. I'm counting on you to do the right thing.

Retraction - redirection of annoyance towards ministry

Last night I was annoyed and wrote some nasty things about WasteServ, and it has been brought to my attention that (at least some of) what I said was undeserved...

Apparently WasteServ have nothing to do with the 'waste separation at source' scheme, which is why there is nothing about it on their website. They are involved with the recycling of packaging waste, but not with how it gets from households to the plant. Sorry! Chris Ciantar, whose name is synonymous with WasteServ, has been involved with the scheme through his post as a director in the Ministry for the Environment (a couple of weeks ago he got made Permanent Secretary in the new ministry).

Also, while I still am not so impressed with how WasteServ has done some things, and didn't get such a great impression when I toured Sant' Antnin, on the other hand yes they did do some things right, so apologies for my sweeping generalisations.

So, all my annoyance has now been re-directed towards the ministry, and the ranting about the grey plastic bags, their unavailability, and the overall mismanagement of the implementation of the scheme still stands.

Hekk, mela.

Waste Separation At Source - another half-baked scheme

The 'waste separation at source' scheme should finally start next week - from what I can gather, this means that instead of taking plastic/metal/paper to the bring-in sites, we can leave them out for collection along with the usual domestic rubbish, in special grey bags.

WasteServ doesn't seem to have a very good track record so far. The bring-in sites, Magħtab, Sant' Antnin, nothing but problems and controversies. Now the waste separation at source is more of the same what with the disagreements with Local Councils over costs etc., the last-minute postponing of the scheme, and the lack of information available.

I don't know the reasoning behind making the waste separation bags available from the Local Councils. I have enough to do without traipsing off to my village's Local Council offices to get rubbish bags, forget it. In any case, we didn't get any mailshot or coupons so I can't get the bags anyway. I'll happily buy them when we go shopping, so put them in supermarkets please.

Also, come on, what is this grey bag business anyway? People are going to go to the trouble of separating their waste at home, then dump all the paper, plastic and metal in one grey bag, and then these bags have to be emptied and sorted at the plant. It makes much more sense to take advantage of having each household separate the waste and collect them separately.

The mind boggles.

I just went to the Wasteserv website, because so far everything I know about the 'separation at source' thing has come from the news, so I thought I'd get some info.

Hah.

There is nothing about the scheme, the grey bags, the coupons, or what exactly we're supposed to do.

So, overall, not impressed, waiting to see what happens.

A box on wheels - efficient, cheap and cute for preference

In the Times this morning there was an article quoting Tonio Grech Fenech, the Minister of Finance, as saying that there's no reason to postpone buying a car.

It's funny but last night that's exactly what Michael and I decided to do!

We've been meaning to buy a second car so that I can have my own wheels (plus the van is on its last legs after having been in a pretty bad accident a few months ago and so Mike doesn't want me driving it). In my girly heart of hearts, I would love to have a cute little car (pink, even), but in the cold light of day what really counts is the cost of the car, its mechanical soundness, and its efficiency. If I'm lucky, you never know, we might find a cute, efficient, cheap little car but so as to avoid disappointment I'm just picturing it as an ugly box on wheels. I'm sure I'll find ways to cutify it (is that a word?) even if it is really ugly.

It's about time we got around to buying this car, but we decided last night that it makes more sense to wait until the revisions in registration tax come into effect because we'd save money.

The minister is saying that anyone who buys a car now that would be affected by the revisions later this year, will be reimbursed the difference in one way or another.

However I'm not convinced - what if this does not in fact happen?

On the other hand... apparently the rest of Malta is doing the same thing and holding off on buying cars for now, and I suppose that once the revisions do come into force then the floodgates will open and it will be harder to find a decent second hand car to buy because they'll be snapped up - maybe if we buy one now we'll get a good price because dealers are getting so little custom.

I dunno, economics was never my strong suit. We'll see.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7...

I have fulfilled my civic duty and exercised my right to vote.

There was a small but steady trickle of people heading in and out of the primary school just before 6pm, and things seemed quite calm. There was a small crowd of people clustered together across the road, I assume they were observers of some kind, and they seemed quite cheerful.

This year, Michael and I voted for opposing parties for the first time, which is what happens when you marry a floater I suppose. At first this put a strain on our relationship, but then we agreed to disagree and have spent the last few days having civilised discussions about politics and occasionally making good-natured jibes.

Mike is such a gentleman that he even offered to drive me to my post tal-votazzjoni this afternoon since it was raining - although on the way he tried to convince me that voting had been postponed until tomorrow, and that the correct way to write a "1" on the ballot paper was to make it look like a "7"...

Now, like the rest of the country, we wait for the results. It's going to be a long night at the counting hall tonight (even longer for those who have been up since the early hours of today). I imagine there will be lots of checking-of-mobile-phones during church tomorrow!

Either way, here's hoping that no-one does anything stupid and that no-one gets hurt.

Day of Reflection

So, by electoral law, today is a day of reflection prior to the general election tomorrow, which means that the media is not supposed to carry content that could influence someone's vote. Although (I suppose) blogs don't fall under this law, the bloggers are taking a break too. Well, most of them. Except the newest one, lol.

I used part of my day of reflection to prepare properly for tomorrow, you know, trying to be a good citizen and all that. I googled the candidates running in my district, decided on the order in which I wanted to vote for them, and looked up the location of my post tal-votazzjoni in the Maze. (I tried Google Maps but it didn't work).

So I'm all set.

Here's to a pleasant weekend :-)

Five days to go

The promises of yesterday are the taxes of today. William Lyon MacKenzie

There are Maltese bloggers with clever and interesting things to say about politics. I am not one of them. But, when politics spills over into my daily life, as it occasionally must, I too venture into the foray. (sorry, been listening to too much flowery rhetoric lately)

I am a floating voter - I am not loyal to any particular party and therefore my vote is up for grabs.

At every election, I make a decision about who to vote for, and this is based on past performance, the present situation, and promises for the future. I try to approach with an open mind.

I have a brain. I have been trained to think logically, to assess, compare and conclude. I am not impressed by the mass meetings (and the people honking their car horns on a Sunday afternoon make me want to curse whatever party they are honking for). I am not impressed by grown men calling each other names - would I really want to put such childish and immature people in a position where they make choices affecting me?

Neither am I impressed by clearly flawed proposals.

One that we have heard much about is the reception class idea. There are a whole slew of drawbacks and not a lot of pluses. But what really annoys me about this proposal is that, if anyone was really serious about improving the primary and secondary education in this country, then they would attack the real problem, which is the Junior Lyceum system. This is the cause of so much pressure and stress on young children that anyone who really cared would address this, not propose a reception class.

Another is the reduction of the surcharge. I feel insulted by this proposal. The price of oil is going UP and they want to reduce the surcharge? This is an attempt to manipulate the gullible, and I resent it. If the price of oil is going up, someone still has to pay for it. If the surcharge is reduced, the money is just going to come from somewhere else. And that somewhere else is going to lead straight back into my wallet. I would rather keep the surcharge (where I can keep an eye on it) than have, for instance, income tax raised again.

The Nationalist manifesto contains a lot of inspiring prose. A lot of it is just waffle, but at least it's available in English, unlike the Labour manifesto (do they just not want English-speaking votes?). I did download the Labour manifesto too, and started to read it with the best of intentions, but by page 21 my eyes started to cross so I stopped. Next time, if they want me to read it, they can provide me with an English translation. I did like the pretty pictures though, and I'm so glad they toned down their usual red to a nice soothing purple for the campaign. Clever marketing.

Reading through the Nationalist manifesto leaves me thinking, if they're removing/reducing all these taxes and increasing spending in so many areas, then where is the money going to come from? There are two possible ways - one is outside investment, and the other is to decrease wasteful spending. When are we going to see the civil service (the very expensive civil service) become accountable? When are the Government departments going to become efficient? Nationalist or Labour, I suppose it doesn't matter. There are too many voters in the civil service.

Not only am I not impressed with most of the proposals (especially since many would not be implemented anyway), I also don't see what I want. Jacques says he would vote for anyone who would reform the electoral system. I'm more self-centred, I'll vote for anyone who will give me what I really want - to be able to get to work consistently on time and with dry feet. For this to happen, I need a reliable bus service and proper water drainage for the roads. As it is, the realisation of my daily dream depends on whether the octogenarian is driving the bus today (if, indeed, a bus comes AT ALL), and of course on the amount of rainfall. In many streets all over Malta, we end up with rivers three, four or even five feet wide running along the pavements. I'm no athlete, and widths greater than four feet usually leave me spending the day with wet feet and a foul temper.

Alternattiva Demokratika, as part of their electoral campaign, have called for "the liberalisation of the bus service". Aha, but as a Maltese citizen over the age of seven, I am not to be won over so easily. I don't want a liberalised bus service. I want a reliable bus service. The latter will not necessarily follow from the former.

To be dry and on time, do I ask too much? Sadly, many of the noble proposals in the manifestos will not be realised. Those that are attempted will be hampered by corruption, inefficiency and just plain incompetence. Such is the reality of politics. I sigh a world-weary sigh: *sigh*. (oh no, I think I'm getting all dramatic again)

It's disappointing how hard it is to have a civilised conversation about politics in this country. So many otherwise-rational people quickly fall back on name-calling and generalisations when I dare to disagree with them. I have had friends with whom I very much disagree with about fundamental issues but we could still get together for fun and value eachother as people notwithstanding differences of opinion. Funnily enough, these people tend to be foreigners.

I think that besides the name-callers (with whom it is impossible to have a proper discussion) I find myself most frustrated with those who disagree with a party's policies (or, worse, don't even know what the policies are), but still say that they will vote for that party "because I always have, just like my parents always have, and I always will, because it's my party". I can understand people being loyal to a party, but I do think that they should at least have one reason for it. One of my best friends is extremely loyal to one party, but I can respect that because he can give you a list as long as his arm as to why he supports that party, and a list as long as his other arm as to why he will never vote for the other.

I am so fed up of this electoral campaign, things are just degenerating the longer it goes on. I feel embarrassed for Malta as a whole given some of the behaviour we are seeing from our potential leaders and their followers. Roll on Saturday, I just want to get this over with.

One more electoral campaign gimmick?

I found out via Sandro that Lawrence Gonzi has started his own blog, as has his wife. Jacques also posted about this today, but since I wrote this post in my head on the way to work, I thought I'd go ahead with it anyway...

This news comes shortly after Blogs of Malta was invaded by Alternattiva Demokratika blogs, and I have had to create a Politika folder in my aggregator for all these politicians.

It remains to be seen whether or not the new blogs will be worth reading - especially since in most cases I have to wade through Maltese text (English-speaking Maltese citizens can vote too, people!). At least the Gonzis' blogs use Maltese characters (I refuse, on principle, to read Maltese text that doesn't use them) but on the other hand, they don't really qualify as blogs after all. When blogs were still new, there was a lot of debate about various definitions, and as far as I am concerned, blog = updated content + comments. As Sandro pointed out, the Gonzis don't permit comments, and therefore I don't consider them proper blogs. Journals, sure, but not blogs.

Nice to see another woman on the scene though (Hi Mrs. Gonzi!) and I'm hoping her blog journal will be an interesting read. You know, maybe something other than boring politics all the time. I wonder if they have a cat? And what is it like being married to a politician? And what does she do for supper when they both get home late after a long tiring day?

Any bets on when Sant will follow Gonzi and Cassola and get his own blog? Wordpress or Blogger? And will there be a plug-in playing The Only Way Is Up, Labour?

One Woman, One Vote

It's amazing what an education you can pick up along the way if you read a lot of books, although it might take a few years to sink in.

Around the age of eleven, I had read all the Enid Blyton books available to me, and felt ready for something else. So my father got me started on his vast collection of science fiction books, mostly Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein, and some Arthur C. Clarke. I loved those stories!

Many of the books operated on, say, three levels - the first level was entertainment (characters and plot), the second level was exploring the possibilities of science (mostly in the future, in space or on another planet), and the third level was socio-political commentary. At the time, I was clueless as to the third level, but now as I remember the books I realise that there was a lot in there that was over my head.

In Starship Troopers, citizenship, or the right to vote, has to be earned through military service. If you don't volunteer for this military service, then you still live in society but you don't have the right to vote.

This is similar to Athenian Democracy in that, besides fulfilling the other qualifications necessary (such as not being a slave or a woman, for example), an adult male also had to have completed his military training.

On the other hand, I grew up knowing that the only requirement for me to vote was to be at least eighteen years old - I didn't have to earn it. So maybe I didn't think of it as a privilege, which I'm sure I would have had I grown up in ancient Athens, or in not-so-ancient Europe before women were emancipated.

My religion teacher in Form 3 told us that it was our duty to vote.

I don't know if I would say it was a duty - but if you can vote and you don't, then you have thrown away your right to have a say in the running of your country. And that means that for the rest of that electoral term, you don't have a right to complain about all the things that the Government is doing wrong (the state of the roads, the level of income tax, waste of taxpayers' money, etc etc).

Because if you vote a political party into power, you can grumble (imbasta they promised us everything), and if the party you didn't vote for won the election, then you can grumble with even more righteous indignation.

But if you didn't vote, then you didn't every try.

I'm fed up of hearing people giving their predictions as to when the general elections will be called - so much speculation as to whether it will be the 8th of March (but then maybe local council elections will have to be postponed) or maybe it will be March 15th (but that's right after Duluri) and so on and so forth...

Mind you, once the date is announced then people will just talk about it even more.

The Nationalist Party seemed to have kicked off an unofficial campaign a couple of weeks ago, first with billboards pointing out some of the consequences of Sant's suggestion to devalue the Lira just before Euro conversion, and then more recently with pictures of an awkward-looking Gonzi explaining to disinterested citizens that everything will be fine. Now all pretence has been abandoned, and new billboard advertisments include words like agħżel (Labour Party) and the blatant ivvota (Azzjoni Nazzjonali).

I hope that (a) the date is announced soon and (b) that the electoral campaign is SHORT, because I don't know how much of the campaigning I can take...

I will, incidentally, be rude to anyone who, under orders from Party headquarters, phones me up to either remind me to vote or ask me who I voted for. The answers are, I'll do it in my own good time, and none of your business.

In the meantime, The Malta Chronicle is an interesting place to read about the Malta Elections 2008, hooray for the internet and free speech.

The Employment Gender Gap - not necessarily a bad thing

There was an article in The Times today (as there periodically is) about how Malta is "improving" with regards to the level of female employment.

I don't see why we keep hearing this touted as an improvement.

I know plenty of women who work, (I am one myself, hahaha) but I think the shift in the "Employment Gender Gap" is caused mostly by mothers of young children going back to work much earlier than our own mothers used to (if they did at all).

It used to be that most mothers would, if they wanted to, work part-time in the mornings once their youngest kid was old enough to go to school, and possibly go back to full-time employment once the kids could take care of themselves after school. But now women are back working full time shortly after having a baby, leaving their newborn with Grandma, because it's almost impossible for a family to live on one paycheque these days.

Have you seen the property prices in the last few years? I'm not talking about the villas in Madliena that we all sigh over in the Owner's Best, I'm talking about nondescript flats in nondescript villages that still cost more than a bank will lend a single person with a decent job. High property prices mean high mortgage payments which mean that there's less money left at the end of the month to pay the other bills with.

New mothers aren't going to work to get a sense of self-fulfillment - all the ones I talk to say that they are watching the clock and waiting for the hour when they can leave to get back to their kids - they're working because it's not enough to have one wage-earner in the family any more.

So really all that these articles celebrate is that mothers can't afford to stay home and raise their children any more.

Wonderful.