I really try hard to live life with a certain amount of perspective. I try to understand that certain things will get the better of me, annoy me even. But I need to be able to rise above such things and live life in my own little world. For me this is the key to sanity and perhaps some resemblance of serenity. However, once in a while, as you have probably noticed via this blog website, control no longer remains possible and I ultimately lose my shit. Today, the catalyst is CRANES.

CRANES, cranes, cranes, cranes, cranes. They are absolutely everywhere. As a person, like many of you, who commute via car, they have become a regular source of frustration. Don’t get me wrong, progress is inevitable and unstoppable. I get that. But surely, like with everything in life, these situations need to be addressed with at least a tiny bit of common sense.

Of course, my issue is not personally with cranes. You’re not going to find me one day face to steel, shouting obscenities and preparing for man vs. crane war. Whilst I can occasionally be a loose cannon, that kind of behaviour is beyond even me. No, my beef is more with the constructors who construct them and the regulators who permit them.

My grievance is two fold. Fold number one. Christ their ugly. Some may vary in their opinion of how they rate Malta for it’s beauty. I for one think it’s a beautiful country, whether that be on the picturesque coastline or inland. I love the architecture and I love the character (modern and classic). However, with thousands of cranes everywhere it has become the equivalent of finding of half a dozen pus flowing abscesses on the perfectly moulded bosom of Monica Belluci.

Aesthetically speaking it is horrible. Which brings me to fold number two. The absolute madness it causes on the roads. It would seem that the only way to erect a crane is by having it stick half way into the middle of the road for 6 months or so. Which in turn obviously makes an already dire infrastructure, increasingly fucked. And it is not just the fact that you find one here or there. Sometimes in a singular journey you can encounter upward of a dozen.

Oh, and it is not just half a road they can block. In some cases and with some cranes they can temporarily close roads altogether. That is just ridiculous. Now, as stated above, I am realistic. I know it’s impossible halt progress, and nor would I wish that to happen. But surely the shit has gotten way out of control. I am all for progress, but how about for the immediate future we turn that into “gradual progress”?

There seriously needs to be a change in thinking regarding the rate of development here. It can’t all just be about money. A balance needs to be found between infrastructure development, the effect on daily life and the preservation of Malta’s identity. And this balance needs to be found sooner rather than later.

I mean, seriously. Do we really need to keep rolling with this trend of building block after block of shoe box type apartments? Personally, I would rather see people having the opportunity to purchase, at a reasonable price, some of the many, many derelict homes around the island. Instead of them being swallowed up by developers all in the name of major profit.

That is what I think at least, but maybe that’s just me…