From Ms K. Davies-Barrett

“Never ASSUME – or you'll make an ASS of yoU and ME” a colleague at The Malta Independent warned me on my first day as Copy Editor. I confess – the satisfaction he drew from using this line tickled me more than the words themselves.

Now the words ring true every time I return to the island of my birth and

adolescence and am assumed to be a

foreigner.

Being of Maltese nationality and still relatively new to life away from the islands, I never cease to sing its praises to those I meet in London. Yet, every time I return to visit my family my disappointment increases as so many locals treat me with disrespect and lack of professionalism.

On my most recent trip I was:

• questioned rudely by the police as to WHY I wanted a report of the theft of my driver's licence (any suggestions on what else I'd be doing with the report other than getting my licence replaced are welcome!),

• indirectly informed that ambulance staff in Gozo may have worsened the injuries my family and I incurred in a car accident there by not putting our necks in braces at the scene (the doctor and nurse discussed this in Maltese while I lay there on a stretcher, oblivious to the fact that I might actually understand Maltese),

• had one of our party discharged from the hospital with two cracked ribs which staff somehow failed to inform him of, despite X-rays (only after a week of unrelenting pain did a separate appointment with a specialist reveal the damage),

• and finally, to add insult to injury, the other driver's insurance representative claim that the accident was somehow my fault, being a tourist who clearly wasn't used to driving in Malta and Gozo (seven years of driving all over the islands while living and working here taught me all I need to know about driving in Malta and Gozo).

Not to mention countless other instances where it’s been assumed that I won't understand the Maltese insults made to my face – though it is worth it at times just to see the expression on their faces when I reply in the Maltese I learned at school and in my home village of Bir¿ebbuga.

Malta is certain to be exposed to an increasing variety of cultures since joining the EU. All I can say is that I hope my fellow Maltese nationals will learn to avoid judging people by appearances and treat everyone with some common decency – and don't be surprised next time a young European-looking woman at the grocery store stands her ground and says “U Zgur mhux se nhallas 50c ghal pakket Twistees! Mela xi hsibtni?” (Of course I won’t pay 50c for a packet of Twistees! What do you think I am?)

Kristina Davies-Barrett

LONDON