Summer is fast approaching. The mini-skirts, Hawaiian shirts and sun glasses have all come out. When one goes near the coast, you can smell the fresh sea air. When one goes into the countryside, the smell of blossom and greenery is tangible.

But if one were to walk on one of our older main roads, the only smell you get is melted asphalt. Can we honestly say that in the year 2011, we are a modern developed country when our roads actually melt?

Workers come along in the winter and carry out their ‘patching’ operations. If that patch of asphalt actually makes it through the wet season and into the summer, it becomes a soft oozing mess as soon as it gets some sun.

Our roads truly are woeful at best. If not full of craters and holes, they melt underfoot. Is this all part of the 2020 vision? Shouldn’t we fix the pitiful state of our roads before anything else? The first thing that any foreign person says about Malta is “is it true that all your roads are broken and that you cannot claim anything for breaking your car?” Sad but true. Oh, and Austin, don’t tell us that Athens is worse, please.

■ John Fenech

Naxxar