Cleaning up

Martin left Innsbruck, Austria to live and work in Malta for at least a year. He has been staying in St Paul's Bay for over a month and has been consistently blogging here about his observations of Maltese society and his unusual discoveries around the island. In one post he draws comparisons with Ireland ( where he also lived) on the issue of litter and general cleanliness. He will be relieved to know that new legislation announced yesterday will introduce eco-wardens and hefty fines for littering as from January. From sefekht.com:

I keep drawing comparisons between Ireland and Malta, and I have another one today: Litter. Ireland s streets and countryside became so dirty and littered that at one point the business association put up adverts all over the country, but especially at the airports and seaports. They said, Welcome to Ireland. Sorry about the litter, and things like that. This embarrassment caused the Irish government to fast-track some legislation that had been in hibernation, which introduced new litter warden positions and powers, and they introduced a tax on plastic bags, which were so populous that some said that they were the symbol of Ireland. No tree was to be found without the plastic fruit caught in it s branches.

Malta desperately needs legislation and wardens with power. I would have to vote Malta the dirty streets capital of Europe. Not that I ve been all over Europe, but I was recently in a Czech town called Cesky Krumlow (which I can thoroughly recommend visiting), and the contrast is stunning between any place in Malta and that town. It s the cleanest place I ve ever been. There wasn t one item of litter to be seen. Not on the streets, not in the parks, not in the river. By contrast, Malta has dirty streets, dirty countryside, dirty seas...

Malta has so many qualities that it s sad to see poor government and lazy attitudes spoil what could be a much nicer place. Other ways that Malta is like Ireland in the early 80s: small expensive shops; poor services; unregulated building; lots of back door dealing; prominence of religion. But then there s also so much modernity too. There are places where the service is excellent. There are new cars on the streets. The internet connection is on a par with the UK (and better than Austria and Ireland). But, together, it s quite a mixture. You walk along broken footpaths, enter a very old shop with dusty food tins on the shelf, and have to jump out of the way of inattentive drivers.

First day in Malta; Maltese workmanship; Gozo and Mdina