Barbers who charged Lm1.50 (e3.49) are today charging e3.50. Where bars charged 80c (e1.86) for a double tot of whisky, the price today is e1.90. Whatever the NECC likes to believe, shopkeepers will do what suits them best. In the case of the barber who charged Lm1.50, customers who used to advance 20c as a tip (Lm1.70, e3.96 in all) are today tendering e4 (Lm1.72). Which customer is going to count out e3.96 to tender to the barber, to keep his tip at 20c (e0.47)?

Has the public transport authority advertised the bus fares in euros? Kartanzjan holders, who very conveniently paid only 10c (e0.23) for any voyage they made, do not know what they are to tender, unless they have asked. Is it e0.23, the equivalent of the 10c they used to pay, or EUR0.20, after the authority is said to have rounded the amounts down? Surely the fares should have been advertised in euros.

Italian football giants Juventus have come and gone, and Valletta FC should be proud of the result they achieved against the Italian club. One hopes that other top clubs will follow on their footsteps and come over for their winter training camps. Our climate is attractive enough and, as had happened last year when Milan came over, the weather was extremely benevolent.

Residents in Birkirkara Road, St Julian’s, have experienced four power cuts over the last two weeks or so. One of them occurred on Boxing Day, while the most inconvenient was the one that took place on New Year’s Eve, which lasted quite some time. What is happening exactly? Are these residents to expect that they will be having regular power cuts?

It seems that people responsible for the improvement of our roads start a project in a particular place and after many weeks of work, they stop and forget all about it, leaving the project half baked. A case in point is a stretch close to the Empire stadium in Gzira. The thousands of cars that make use of this 200m stretch have to keep an eye on the many potholes that dot the area. When is the final layer of tarmac going to be given?

Another road which deserves all the attention it can get is Naxxar Road in San Gwann, which is in a disastrous state. Drivers risk slamming into oncoming traffic to avoid going into potholes that are side and deep. The ministry responsible for roads has said that all the damage caused by the rain will be seen to. Well, this road should be top of the list of priorities for the government.

Many zebra crossings need to be given a layer of white paint on a regular basis. The paint is washed away by the rains and the cars that drive over it, and the “zebras lose their stripes”. This makes crossing the street rather dangerous, as drivers are not forewarned that pedestrians have a right to cross in that particular stretch.

Some people just do not realise how annoying they can be. One reader called in to complain that a woman who was right behind him in the queue in a bank branch last week kept complaining and mumbling, as loudly as can be, about anything under the sun. The reader, too polite to tell her verbally, looked at her in all possible ways to let her know that she was really irritating. But she did not get the hint and kept on. It went on for 45 minutes.