Now, for the nice things first. Some of us hackettes were treated to an extremely well organized pampering session at the Fortina Spa Resort courtesy of Pantene. The rooms where the likes of Wendy Richard come and stay regularly are truly “well appointed” as they say in fashion magazines and the brochures of posh hotels. I felt like a spoilt brat as I arrived late and breathless and was ushered into the Spa. I had made my choice when a list of treatments was sent to me a few days earlier: aromatherapy, Balinese Massage, Acupuncture, Reflexology and many more including a “Chocoate Full Body Massage and Orange Scrub”. I was afraid I would get out of control and lick this off so I opted for Reflexology since I have never had this treatment at any time and I wanted to try it out.

Ivanka, a Bulgarian who has lived here for seven years and is married to a Maltese, led me into a darkened room and as I lay down massaged my feet and ankles with some kind of essential oil. Need I reassure you that it was lovely…I don’t want to sound over the top and say that it has changed my life but after 50 minutes of Ivanka’s reflexology – and a little chit chat about spirituality, her life and mine, I honestly did feel like a new woman. Poke me and I’ll go again and again…and yes again. I walked out feeling like the Pink Panther. We had been allocated one of the luxurious Spa rooms, La Puntan Galea, Fiona GD and myself. They were spashing about in some mud thing in the bathroom. I simply had no time to do all this but instead helped myself to the Fortina’s exquisite sandwiches which must be made in another world and also their delicately cut crèpes filled with salmon and so on. Absolutely delicious. My camera had already conked out on me on a different occasion and I felt very sad that I could not take a photo of these two ladies with a towel wrapped round them. Of course they would have objected but it would have been too late.

It was impossible to attend the evening Pantene media launch at the Valletta Waterfront but I will have some photos of this event in First. There is going to be a nationwide search for the Pantene Hair of the Year which should be fun. I need not worry as it will certainly not be mine! One of the requisites is ‘great shiny hair’!

I read somewhere that the Labour Party, once in power, are going to take the warden system in hand and make it more reasonable for us citizens. I don’t want to bore you with my warden stories but they know only too well, that most of us will not challenge their tickets only because it is so costly in time and would therefore rather pay the tenner or more, even if we know – and they know – that we are not at fault on quite a number of occasions.

I still feel upset about the time I was given a ticket for going up Manwel Dimech Street at 9am on a Saturday morning when I would never dream of being anywhere except at home with my porridge and coffee. Or the time they doubled the tenner because I was contesting the payment of yet another ticket but could not appear before the tribunal as my sister was very ill and my mind was on this and far from the tribunal. This led to their doubling the charge and I had to sent them a cheque, covered in bad vibrations let it be said, for Lm20. Or the time my car was in Hamrun parked in the wrong place – with several others whose owners were attending the same function – in the wrong place because the sign indicating during which times parking was permissible was very far away and one would have needed a search party to find it. To contest this one I would have had to go to the Qormi Local Council. Of course, yet again, I paid up and shut up. I have stopped harbouring the belief that I can fight the system as so many of us have. I now know that this belief is inanely stupid even if it is strangely compelling. I just hope that there is purgatory (or have they scrapped it too?) and that a number of wardens will roast there for five minutes for every ticket they gave out, knowing full well that the person and car in question were somewhere else, dead or did not exist at all.

I loved the story of Joe Mifsud on Norman and Josette Hamilton’s excellent programme Bla Agenda a couple of Saturdays ago. A man was given a ticket for some dastardly traffic deed he had allegedly done. Now, it so happened that his car had been scrapped and was no longer in his possession. So of course, he contested but could not get out of this before spending hours – maybe days, I can’t remember which – producing the official document which stated that that particular car which some warden had seen on the road, in the wrong place had been on some scrap heap for some time. Of course once the official document was produced the warden backed out with some lame excuse. But, as Joe pointed out, nobody said anything about paying this particular citizen for the time and energy he had lost. Maybe even for a day’s work or a day’s leave. I sat in my armchair feeling truly disgusted after this story. I hope the wardens in question in these and so many other stories are filled with remorse. They should be asked to do community service after every case that they lose at the tribunal. Let’s have an election tomorrow and get the Labour Party to make us love wardens.

I see that Lou Bondì’s programme Bondiplus may become Bondiminus in the new schedule for it has not been shortlisted by PBS. A friend messaged me last Tuesday saying how disgusted he was watching Bondì’s propaganda programme about the Mater Dei hospital. “Are you watching,” he asked, “because I am turning it off…absolutely disgusting.” As it happens I was not watching and was elsewhere. And we are paying Bondì, from your taxes and mine, some Lm5,000 per programme. Surely, what remains of the PBS staff can come up with something better than this kind of propaganda? I am not convinced that Bondì’s programme will be scrapped although I must say, I admire John Camilleri for trying to do away with him. Bondì must be pulling ropes, not mere strings, to make certain that his programme will stay on PBS as who else will take it except the Education channel? Who else will pay him a vast sum of money for nothing at all? We are all watching with bated breath to see who is going to win this particular battle. Maybe he will have to organize a few more fireworks festivals to keep the thousands pouring into his coffer. But not appearing on television is going to give him withdrawal symptoms…let’s wait and see.