Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1380662
10 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 6 JUNE 2021 OPINION Raphael Vassallo Everyone but government, it seems, is finally waking up to the development problem… THE other day I happened to drive through Mosta on my way to somewhere else; and while I'm not sure if it's a temporary arrangement, on account of the latest road-widening project in the area… it seems that the flow of traffic has recently gone back to how it used to be in the good old days. In other words: I found myself approaching Mosta Dome di- rectly through Eucharistic Con- gress Avenue, instead of taking the longer way around. And apart from being a much more sensible route into that particu- lar town anyway (akin to enter- ing a house by the front door, instead of climbing through the back window)… the experience also forcefully jogged a dis- tant memory – dating back 40 years or more – of being driven through the same street, in the same direction: only this time, with the purpose of buying a bi- cycle. Naturally, I won't bore you with the plethora of other emo- tions that single memory also evoked: let's just say it was my 'first bicycle'… even if it was ac- tually meant to be shared with my older brother (which was probably just as well; for I quick- ly discovered that bicycles were not really my thing, after all… in fact, I never even learnt to ride the darn thing in the end…) Nonetheless, there is a reason why one's 'first bicycle' is offi- cially regarded as an important rite of passage in any child's life. Very often, it will also be that child's first taste of ownership and responsibility; the first inti- mation of true freedom and in- dependence; and in many cases, also an instant ticket to social ac- ceptance, by other children who already own bicycles of their own… And granted: in terms of sheer coolness, the Raleigh-14 we bought that day was clearly no match for the Grifters and BMX's owned by other kids in the neighbourhood. But still: it was MY (sorry, OUR) Ra- leigh-14… and more significant- ly: we owned it at a time when kids could still ride bicycles safe- ly in the street, without perma- nent fear of death or incapacita- tion… In any case: that single mem- ory, on its own, was already enough to elevate my mood slightly. And the same feeling of elation only multiplied ex- ponentially, when I drove past where the old bicycle shop used to be; only to realise that… well, who would ever have guessed? It's still there. Or at least: the original shop sign still hangs above the (shut- tered) door; as for the shop itself, a much-enlarged version seems to have been relocated onto the other side of the same street … and meanwhile, I am told that a second branch has opened in L-Iklin… But the point of this nostal- gic (and probably unnecessary) preamble is not to underscore the historical resilience of cer- tain centennial Maltese family businesses; but rather, to… how can I put it? Even though the il- lusion itself was all-too quickly shattered, just by proceeding to drive through other parts of Malta… for a tiny moment there, that simple change of traffic flow felt almost like a reversal of the entire space-time continuum. Not only was I approaching Mosta Dome from the oppo- site direction; but the sensation was uncannily similar to driving backwards through time (and let's face it: it helps that Eucha- ristic Congress Avenue itself has changed so very little, in the hundred or so years it has exist- ed). For some reason, I drove off feeling vaguely… gratified, for want of a better word. It some- how 'felt good', to be reminded – even if in such a fleeting, illusory way – that there are certain little corners of an older, less utterly ruined Malta, that have actually survived the recent overdevel- opment onslaught (even if you sometimes have to distort your own perception to actually see them). And if nothing else, that thought alone suggests that there might still be a point in trying to save what little is left of our islands' built-or-unbuilt her- itage… or at least, to prevent as much further damage as can re- alistically be prevented in future. But if I bring all this up today, it is also because I am detecting – unlike any other previous time I can remember – the beginnings of a major, groundswell move- ment in much the same direc- tion. It could, of course, be every bit as illusory of the 'Mosta time- warp factor' I've just described; but today, more than ever be- fore, there seems to be mount- ing evidence of national frustra- tion (if not downright anger) at what can only be described as a woefully untenable, tragically unsustainable situation, which seems to have no end in sight. You can feel it in the prevalence of unabashedly nostalgic 'Lost Malta' pages, that now flood the social media; you can sense it in the constant emergence of new anti-development NGOs… as well as the fact that established civil society groups have undeni- ably upped the tempo: occasion- ally extending their activism to physically blocking construction