Labour deputy leader Michael Falzon was out campaigning door to door in Sliema.

He had just began in a street and started with the last house and, as he usually does when he finds a block of flats, he began from the topmost flat.

Which brought him face to face with columnist Pamela Hansen.

Pam immediately launched on the vexed issue of fireworks. She asked Dr Falzon: “What are you going to do about the fireworks?”

Dr Falzon, who also doubles as the president of the Stella Maris Band Club replied: “This year we will have more and more”.

To which Pam retorted: “I will not be voting for you, then”.

And, sure enough, this is what she wrote in this week’s MaltaToday after last Sunday’s awful bombardment: “Pyromania comes to a head with the Stella Maris feast. I know it sounds sacrilegious, I think it is. The most venerable lady in Christianity, the mother of Christ – in this case Our Lady Star of the Sea – is used as an excuse to give vent to the release of an intense obsession with extremely loud explosives.

“Life was hell for those who live around Manoel Island. They have been subjected to regular intense bombardments daily, all week. Starting on Monday 13th and coming to a crescendo on Sunday with the evening bombardment starting at 7pm with no lull for over three hours.

“At 8.30pm we got some colour and more loud explosions, and then more explosions until 10pm if not later, by which time my ears where actually aching. Three hours of constant, nerve racking, ear-splitting explosions. And it is legal!”