I haven't been up to much as it has been hot and therefore not happy to have to venture out to some concert or reception in mostly uncomfortable clothes because my diet isn't working. Anyway, all seems to be happening  this month, so I was happy simply to spend time with my family and a couple of close friends, in skimpy comfortable clothes on some cool terrace, breaking my diet. And getting the laudry done.

So onto a few observations.

 Sliema Local Council have now put up a placard saying 'No topless  bathing' down at the Exiles. Good for them. Pity they waited so long. We need more of these directions, every few metres please. These are our values. This is a family beach. No mother or grandmother wants to have to explain to a child why someone is sunbathing topless and why she isn't. There are plenty of secluded beaches and hotels. Those who want to display their wares - not always photogenic let it be said - can do so in one of these places.

 I tell you, I have -as yet to understand why the Burkina was banned in France. The Burka yes, because of security but certainly not the Burkina. Give me a woman in a Burkina any day rather than one who is mostly naked running around as if in the Garden of Eden. Moreover the topless attract the perverts and the odd man with a homely body in the grip of a male menopausal folly. One of them turned up armed with a Cuban cigar some time ago. Smoking should be banned on the beach too as far as I am concerned. Am I  beginning to sound like a killjoy?  Let me take that back.

Sliema Local Council does some good work even if it complains  that it doesn't have much money. But isn't that true of local councils the world over?  I wish them to know that the notices which they sent to us over email should be in English as well as Maltese. We are a bilingual country. I am Maltese. I can read and speak Maltese even if my written Maltese is a little dodgy. The point is, let's stop promoting Maltese at the cost of English. We cannot do without the latter for a million and one reasons. The lobby for Maltese becomes stronger each day and the only people who are going to benefit from more Maltese are the writers of Maltese. Not good enough.

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I like friends who are optimistic and positive. Happy if it's Monday and as happy on Tuesday. Elated to find themselves at a concert and overjoyed to be drinking coffee, even if the cup still has lipstick from the previous client.  They make such a change from pessimists who never see any good in anyone and shoot down, pell-mell, every project conceived by the government. And no doubt enjoy a chat about you over their Earl Grey. However, as my tribe is slowly coming to an end, if not through death then because they prefer sitting in the comfort of their homes watching 'Last of the Summer Wine' or 'One Foot in the Grave',  then the optimists are the ones who make it into My Little Black Book. I salute them for pushing themselves.

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My youngest  drew the cartoon on this page. Yes, it is my office, after almost thirty years of working at the Indy I've accumulated a great deal of newspapers, magazines, programmes, books (a good many brought there from home).  I throw a few newspapers away for recycling each week but, as a colleague tells me, 'you remove five and bring in six.'

 I keep cuttings thinking they will come in useful. Do I ever refer to them? The answer is no. However, I am still reluctant to part with them. You never know. But all this clutter for some reason or another makes gives me a sense of security. My colleagues are so used to it that I no longer have to face shaking heads and judgmental looks.  A couple of them who mean well, have offered to clear it up but I continue to resist. I am the one who has to do it. I know what they'll do. Bring in a skip under the balcony and throw everything out. If there is a vintage chocolate lurking under some pile of magazines I want to be the one to discover it. I found a vintage banana the other day and ate it. It was alright. Just a little overripe.

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This problem of clearing up also applies to my books at home. At least half belong to my late husband, many are Latin texts which I don't understand at all. These I keep out of sheer nostalgia. But will my daughters?

I have started making inroads however into my bookcases, only because I have no intention of buying yet another one. I gave away half a dozen tomes which I reckoned I could live without but generally I take one out and get no further. I was telling a friend of mine of this problem. She suggested I put my favourite books in a coffin and then have them buried at the same time as myself. Not a bad idea. I shall have to remember to put this directive with my others for when I shuffle off this mortal coil. I don't like leaving anything to chance, an unreliable partner in life.

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Did you know that a lot of famous and successful people were messy? Roald Dahl, J.K. Rowling, and even the great genius Albert Einstein. And have you ever seen a photo of the artist Lucian Freud's studio? Now that is what I call messy.

People should also learn to embrace chaos, because nothing stays neat and tidy. Everything goes back in disarray later on, sometimes even within a couple of hours.

At the same time, a study by Kathleen Vohs  of the University of

Minnesota Carlson School of Management, found that a cluttered environment  helps increase creativity.

"Disorderly environments seem to inspire breaking free of tradition, which can produce fresh insights," she said. "Orderly environments, in contrast, encourage convention and playing it safe." So if your work space is crowded, stacked with towers of paper teethering on collapse, sitting atop a kaleidoscope of scribbles and random phone numbers written down on the twenty plus notepads, then it may encourage creative thinking. Anyway, good enough excuse for me to keep my office as it is until I find at least a couple of weeks which I can dedicate to its clearance. Or simply die in there, buried under the newspapers.

Artists have been using plastic and other materials and recycling  them into 'art which makes a statement',  for a number of years now.  Most of what is produced is ugly and there aren't many who are going to purchase a piece and stick is somewhere in their home to lift up their spirits. Could we ever be moved as much by these creations as we might be by the painting of say, Rembrandt, Caravaggio and Goya. But good for them for trying. However it is going to help to get rid of plastic as much as a fire-extinguisher on the slopes of Vesuvius will get rid of the flames.

Which brings me to the fact that the previous government had introduced a small charge on plastic bags even if we were still given plastic bags without handles - so illogical. But most shops and supermarkets seem to have stopped the charge and have gone back to providing us with plastic bags - with handles - at no charge.

Now plastic bags take up to 20 years to biodegrade, plastic bottles up to 450 years and chewing gum never biodegrades at all... and we have seen the havoc the latter plays in our streets and how long it takes for cleaners to get rid of it.

I believe strong government action in the style of Singapore where fines for littering are ferocious and chewing gum is banned, should be introduced. Let us start using the qoffa once more.

Britain has virtually banished plastic bags just six months after the Government introduced a 5p charge to discourage shoppers from using them.

According to figures released a couple of months ago by the Department of the Environment and Rural Affairs, shoppers are on track to use around six billion fewer single-use plastic bags this year. Since the policy was enforced in England in October 2015, the total number of carrier bags used at the UK's biggest retailers has fallen by 90 percent. Isn't it time that if there is a law regarding plastic bags it is inforced forthwith?  But maybe plastic bags are made here and there is another lobby making sure that no such law is enforced. Go figure!