Sitting on the green turf, in a small shady spot under a large but welcoming tree providing much needed respite from the unforgiving, scorching sun, a spot they called their own, a spot like other spots which other people had called their own, if only for a brief time, the couple picnicked and feasted on the simple lunch they had packed from home: a sandwich, some fruit, a bottle of water, and a carton of juice. Despite being the same lunch they took every day with them to work, it somehow tasted differently here: fresher and healthier.
This feeling was seemingly shared by the other loungers sharing the green place on the island: men, women, children, families leisurely strolling or idling about, surrendered bodies strewn on the grassy expanse, whose slightest commonplace actions, whose shortest of laughs and tiniest of smiles seemed to be enhanced by the surroundings. Everyone just lay on the grass and marvelled at the view, swallowing its beauty but also swigging the air and the feeling that their lives amounted to something, that despite the hardships they suffered, they could enjoy what they had worked for, reaping what they, as a people, had sown, and taking a much deserved break away from the hustle and bustle of their frantic lives, where they could enjoy moments of pure bliss, however fleeting and ephemeral.
They could say that this island was their own.
Naturally, this is a fictional account. And it seems that, in this stubbornly urban country of ours, it will likely remain fictional.
I remember author Alex Vella Gera once commenting on a local television programme on the idea of having a park in Manoel Island. He quickly pointed out the usual construction interests that always seem to take priority over the well-being of the populace. He noted with sadness how the developed part of the island is deprived of green areas providing a cheap and healthy social meeting point. The Maltese are a presumptuous bunch, and believe that they can fix the bad job Nature did.
It doesn’t take a genius, however, to realize the potential and suitability of Manoel Island for a park. Not one of my foreign friends has failed to point this out upon seeing the island. In fact, it’s the first thing they tell me: “This island would make a lovely park.” I find it embarrassing to agree, then having to explain how such a painfully obvious truth had no place in our country, had not materialized and, the most painful of my revelations, probably had no chance to ever do. The look of disappointment bordering on disbelief on the faces of my alien friends brings further shame on me.
Because that is the time when I start feeling the alien.
In Budapest, they have a number of islands which serve as parks. Brussels, as ugly as it is, makes ample use of parks. Greenery is an important aspect of urban planning across most of Europe, and green spots are much sought after. Gardens, which are of course beautiful, and have an aesthetic – as well as a philosophy – of their own, are not really the same thing. Parks make greater use of open spaces and provide vast grassy areas for use by the public. They bring nature to the city, and offer city dwellers the chance to have picnics, read or stroll around in an ‘outdoors’ setting.
While this may sound artificial, it certainly beats the artificiality of other man-made inventions, like the carpet turf currently the trend in some bars, which is not only distasteful and uncreative, but also unhygienic. And it is certainly better than “Hawaiian” pools with fake rocky enclaves and awkward palm trees.
City parks, despite being man-made, are designed in such a way as to emphasize nature and undermine, even conceal the hand of man in its creation. A park is an ode to nature, a tribute to natural beauty, a monument to nature as architect. A place of calm and serenity, whose beauty is not attributable to Man, but to Nature itself.
A park must be an open space, one cannot stress this enough. It should do away with commercial, catering or retail establishments; it should never be a money-making machine. It should serve one simple purpose: to provide the people with ample – that means plentiful, enough and to spare – space for public recreation in a natural and nature-inspired environment, with limited use of the man-made eccentricities, however beautifully ornate, found in garden design, where people can actually choose to walk on the grass.
What we need on Manoel Island is a proper park.
And a simple park it must be. None of the contemporary frivolities (though good, contemporary art would be a welcome guest): a park where the green triumphs, where nature triumphs over construction. A park, in its most simple, natural meaning: a place where one can find some greenery to lie on and just laze around, or, in the words of the great Welsh poet, W. H. Davies, to simply stand and stare.
A Ferris wheel would not be a bad idea, either. It would provide for marvellous views of the harbour, though perhaps might impact negatively on the historical aesthetic of the island. A tastefully done gazebo (possibly in the Art Nouveau style) or a bandstand for some magical open air concerts. A couple of chess tables. Trees, grass, a path. A small pond perhaps. A few benches. And that is that. A green refuge, simple but effective, and, most importantly, beautiful.
Aesthetic is possibly one of the things we are least concerned about in our country, which is fast becoming an aesthetic desert thanks to unbridled, unplanned, and downright ugly construction projects, with oases few and far between.
Manoel Island is a small island, measuring about 1km by half a kilometre at its widest points. Buildings take space, and it is easy to overdevelop such a small place. Let me suggest a little exercise anyone can perform at home: go to Google maps and use the Earth view to compare Margaret Island with Manoel Island. As it is, the former, despite being more than twice the size, looks much greener and less developed. Do we really need more development on tiny Manoel Island?
Amid all the uncertainties, building a park would certainly be a challenging exercise. There are many considerations to take into account: aesthetic, historical and environmental (because even greenery, if done haphazardly without expert advice, can have a negative environmental impact). On the other hand, the place already provides a setting and sufficient land, and is an excellent site in itself. It merely requires to be used creatively.
Not having a park on Manoel Island is going against the nature of things.