The party's over. Let the year begin

I never made it to the grand launch of Valletta 18 on Saturday. I intended to go but when I saw the size of the crowd on FB live I decided to stay home with a glass of red and watch it on my computer. The attendance estimate has been reported as 110,000, a quarter the size of the entire Maltese population.

The build up to the event buzzed on the streets of Valletta since before Christmas when the Republic Street lights went up and remained in place. The lights were beautiful even though, as someone pointed out today, they were recycled from some other European country. The banners for the Feast of St Paul also went up early and most of the streets in lower Valletta were dressed in the colours of the local feast. The workers on Triton Square raced the clock to have the restoration complete in time and the day before the opening I chatted with a young woman who was the operator of the right foot of the giant humanoid figure that lay on its back next to the fountain. A few weeks ago, I had completed the form applying to be part of the Triton event but heard no more probably because there was no place in the flying acrobatic event for a 74 year old with concern about heights!

In squares across the capital, enormous sound and light towers were put in place, barriers and stages went up, wires snaked across pedestrian routes under yellow rubber conduits. Some residents pointed out the dangers for their children that lurked in the unattended scaffolding platforms and the tangle of electrical junction boxes hanging in the back streets. Some of the workers who come into Valletta every day grumbled because they were excluded from their usual lunchtime seat in the sun on Pjazza San Gorge. Photographers took whimsical photos showing how the huge stage and mobile toilet crowded out the 7th June statue and how the scaffolding in Castille square imprisoned the statue of Manuel Dimech.

The preparation for the opening of Valletta 2018 was a mammoth task and the organisers must be congratulated for pulling it off. The spectacle has been praised by people across Malta and beyond. The Maltese diaspora has found something more to be proud of in their heritage. One of my neighbours shared a meme created by Daniel and Yleria that included the words, "We are not just 'hamalli', 'injuranti', 'Keshin', we are normal people who love our city and are proud of its history and its people." A powerful outcome indeed in terms of community cultural development.

In the wash up, there have been mutterings about the inadequate supply of public transport to get 110,000 people home in the middle of the night. Some are also mutterings about circuses for the masses. I walked around the streets on Monday and was impressed by how clean everything was and how the vast collection of scaffolding, lighting and staging was already coming down. Now I am looking out to detect evidence of a concern on the part of Valletta 18 organisers for the vital aspects of public space that enable the cultural exchange between people in support of creative change: safe and pleasant walking routes, accessible public squares and gardens for sitting and dreaming, public transport and commercial delivery systems that keep vehicles to a minimum. Otherwise, the spectacle remains just that.