A few hundred metres before reaching Gharb on the road from Rabat, at the crossroads leading to St. Lawrence or Gharb, there is a little square known as Fgura, named after the statue on the left hand side of the road. One legend attached to this figure is described in Joseph Bezzina’s “Legends from Gozo” and relates to strange voices being heard in the very dry winter of 1590/91, another that I remember hearing is that the figure is dedicated in thanks to the survivors of the plague, probably about the same time.

It was not much of a square, it had three little alleys leading off it, a bench or two for the locals to sit on and chat, an olive tree in a pot that was always being run over by the quarry trucks, a call box, and that was it. However, on completion of the new stretch of road from Rabat, this square was tidied up, a nice new bench was installed and very attractive pottery street signs replaced the old tatty ones. After a year of being a building site, the square was once again pretty and enhanced the character of this lovely quaint village.

To backtrack, when I applied for a new ID at the beginning of last year, I was told in no uncertain terms, and not very politely, that I had the wrong address on my old ID. After having lived for 20 years in Gharb road, I was informed that I now lived in Alley no. 1 Frangisk Portelli Road. I contacted the Council who blithely told me that the addresses had been changed for the election lists and that all the alleys had been numbered! Sure enough there was a wee sign way up on our neighbours house which said SQAQ Nru. 1. To be fair, it was a pretty pottery sign, but gave no indication as to the street name or what it actually referred to.

Imagine our horror to wake up one rainy morning a couple of weeks ago to see dreadful black and white signs (like those used to point the way to public conveniences) adorning the entrances to the various alleys! The wee pottery signs, indicating the alley numbers, although useless, were gone.

This change of address effects about 20 households, at no time has anyone in our alley (4 houses) or the next alley (4 houses) been notified of the change of address. I do not even think that the post office has been notified, certainly the gentleman at the Xewkija Post Office whom I visited last week was unaware of the change. The ‘new’ addresses are not listed on internet either!

To conclude, Fgura square now has two very obvious signs and one less obvious sign which may well be mistaken, at a glance, for directions to a public toilet!

Shame on the persons responsible, including the Mayor of Gharb, for downgrading this area.

Lesley Kreupl
Gharb

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