Comrade, can you spare a BMW?

We have almost walked all around the harbours of Valletta and only the walk to the end of St.Elmo's pier remained.

Thus we set off to complete our aim by doing what was expected to be the best bit. We knew that the single span bridge had been placed in 2012 to replace the one blown up by Italians in 1941 suitably funded by euro dosh. Indeed, the wall at the foot of the steps to it declare as much.

Alas, ascend the steps and you find that it is closed by pretty substantial gates beyond which the bridge itself is open to the sea but from the
wrong direction.





Normally I'd have tried to circumvent such minor examples of disrepair but the gate was extremely well thought out and there was no way around it.

Furthermore the path onward had fallen into the sea some time ago and there were two sets of steps facing each other but a 20-30 metre gap separated the lowest steps of each staircase.

A retrace was the only way back but fortunately about halfway back there is a tunnel under the wall which takes you up to the road which runs around the inside of Valletta's lowest fortification. Last time we walked there I blogged about how dirty it was. It isn't now.

Making our way up through the tunnel a policeman looked at us but made no move so we carried on. Once we joined the highway a few dozen of his colleagues did the same. They were stood in clumps separated by men in suits, some burly and some less so.

Each side of the road was lined by rows of cars, none moving in the ominous silence. The cars formed an obvious pattern that I was not immediately inclined to photograph.  There were BMW 420d s, new with registrations EU17MT xx each was separated by two hire cars, as close to white as possible and mostly Skodas, Fiats or Seats and each of these had number plates marked SV xx cable tied over the existing plates and each had a blue light magnetically attached to the roof.

Immediately above the tunnel the cars were arranged in chevrons on each side of the road and stretched as far as I could see but once around the corner they were parallel parked.

We walked along their ranks looking neither right or left so as not to catch any uniformed eye nor to meet the stare of those sat in the drivers seats.

Around the next corner there was a phalanx of minibuses with "Airport Shuttle" written along their sides and yet more police. By now we had reached the entrance to the museum in Fort St.Elmo (the best I've ever been in but closed till mid February) outside which was a squadron of police BMW flat twin motorcycles and a number of small vans labelled "Detention Service"

This road leads eventually to the Birgu ferry via the Millennium Bell and the memorial to those who lost their lives in the Merchant Navy.

Normally this is a busy, busy road. Today it was empty and kept so by a number of policemen and a load of temporary gates

It made for a very pleasant walk if not enjoyed in the most pleasant atmosphere.

I did ask a policeman what was going on as we have noticed each night for the last week or two as dusk falls and Valletta lights up there has been an almost continuous line of flashing blue lights processing along the road to the Excelsior Hotel 5 Star as it's entrance proudly proclaims. I explained that we didn't realise that Valletta was a hotbed of crime so this explained it. It's the EU he told me. We are President, in charge and we have meetings here. Very important. But who, I enquired? Very important ministers, he said making non verbal signs that he'd rather I didn't speak to him. It didn't really take much working out but such a scale on such a small island, must be very important.

I felt like asking why at least 60 black cars, 120 white ones, so many suits and probably every policeman available not to mention the frequent presence of military helicopters? Who are these eurocrats who merit such attention? They're not government ministers, just eurocrats on a jaunt. Do they each need a trio of cars to safely negotiate a road along which we walked in about 20 minutes at a leisurely pace? Who'd recognise them anyway? I'm not sure I could find a handful of people on this island, indeed in continental Europe who'd recognise a eurocrat unless they were being driven about in a new BMW420d with police escort. Maybe that's how they attain recognition.

A little further along a white car displayed this:


You couldn't make it up unless you were Sir Humphrey, could you?

What a silly waste of money. Fortunately, sooner rather than later I trust, it won't be any of mine.

So, could a couple of eurocrats not share a BMW so that the St.Elmo bridge could be repaired?

Thankfully, I saw no evidence of any black Jaguars in the serried ranks so it couldn't have been all that important then, could it?