Years ago, I remember reading Doris Lessing’s book Mara and Dann, a story of fraternal love. What struck me then and remained impressed in my mind was her description of the imaginary country which had suffered from years of drought.

Trees and vegetation had died, animals were malnourished and sand was everywhere. We know this is how deserts expand, covering everything and obliterating all existing remains and landmarks.

I thought, then, that this was an imaginary scenario, propping up the story. Now I know better. This year, as we all know, we have had the least amount of rain in many, many years. Most of us knew and it did not bother us. We rejoiced over cloudless skies in January, people used the beautiful days to cross over to Gozo and many did not notice the absence of green fields and swollen valleys.

Now many among us are paying for this unusual weather. The absence of rain has not cleared the atmosphere from dust. In fact, Malta is now a very dusty island – you feel it in the air, much like – although to a far lesser degree – one feels, tastes and breathes sand in Dubai.

Rain has not washed away the dust in the air. To this, one must add the dust that is the result of the many construction projects around, especially at excavation stage, when rock formations that had lain there for millions of years are disturbed.

We have also had a far longer period of south-easterly winds, which not only anger housewives because they dirty the windows and car owners because they turn a newly-washed car into a dust-encrusted vehicle, but which also cover everything with a layer of fine sand.

All that and more goes into our breathing. As a result of this drought, we now have an incredibly high number of people with respiratory problems. Doctors’ waiting rooms are full of people coughing, and doctors have told me they have never seen so many people with respiratory problems.

People buy pills – especially antibiotics, cough medicine, etc – and yet there has not been any talk about this in the media; nor has the public been told how best to prevent and cope with this. In Japan they use face masks but maybe that is because of the pollution caused by traffic and so on.

So people suffer, cough, end up in hospital, are given inhalers and whatnot, but normally it is a long process and the damage has been long in the making.

Normally, I find that those people who are not suffering do not really empathise with the sufferers. People leave windows open, for it is unthinkable to have them closed in this heat and the open windows bring in more dust and thus cause more problems for the sufferers.

I find the same carelessness in food preparations especially when it’s catering to the masses, so popular in the summer months. Many astound by the sheer lack of hygiene and we all know that products in the fields are usually given far more than their preferred dose of fertilizer. From the many restaurants I can list (and have visited) only a few qualify for care and cleanliness in food preparation. (And that’s apart from the overall service and service with a smile).

There is so much more that can be done, even though in the end we suffer because of our geographical location and the vagaries of weather. Our streets are dusty and full of rubbish and we normally rely on the rain to clean them up. When we don’t get rain, the dust simply accumulates.

We may have high standings in other stakes but we are nowhere near the top where it comes to cleanliness, ensuring a better lifestyle and protecting the ordinary citizen. I say this happens accidentally, even if culpably accidentally. But it is nevertheless a huge drain on our population, if not also on our economy.

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