business hours. We can only hope that St. George's is setting a pace that can be followed in parts of Hamilton.

We think visitors will enjoy the freedom and lack of hassle involved in shopping without traffic and this is one way Bermuda can make a Bermuda holiday more enjoyable. We think Bermuda has to relax a little and take some of the hassle out of holidays and one of the ways it can be done is by pedestrian shopping. We could not help but note that people working in shops in St. George's were very concerned about the abuse hurled at pedestrians from vehicles. On narrow Water Street it is all but impossible not to walk in the street and, it appears, drivers had taken to hurling the foulest abuse and four letter words at walkers who were generally visitors to Bermuda.

We were interested to see that shopkeepers generally were in favour of the Water Street closure. In other places, shopkeepers have generally disliked the concept at first because it makes their working life less convenient but they usually come to realise that pedestrian streets are better for business.

Overseas some people know what Bermuda has yet to learn. Vehicles have driven shoppers out of the central cities and left the cities to decay or to require extensive redevelopment. Coastal cities generally are moving back to the waterfront. Bermuda has some difficulty because the cruise ships use the docks but we will one day doubtless move the containers and we are developing the shopping on the waterfront concept at Dockyard.

We think it is time for Hamilton to take a hard look at a pedestrian area on Reid and Queen Streets stretching on Reid Street from Burnaby Street to Queen Street and on Queen Street from Front Street to Church Street. The Reid Street block from Burnaby Street to Queen Street is so flooded with pedestrians jay-walking now that it is difficult to drive and it seems to us that usage as a walking street is freezing out the vehicles and maybe we should make it official before someone gets hurt.

Shopping would certainly be a great deal more pleasant without the vehicles and it seems to us that visiting Bermuda needs to be a more pleasant experience. Far too often we run Bermuda to suit our own convenience and fail to think of the convenience and enjoyment of visitors.

Bermuda must be one of a very few warm climate places which chooses to spend most of its time indoors. There was a time when a great deal of Bermuda life took place outdoors and we think that came about because when air conditioning became fashionable Bermuda could afford to pay for it. Surely we ought to make a move back outdoors. Again, look at St. George's. Restaurants with outdoor seating seem to be popular.

We think that the closure of some Hamilton streets to vehicles might lead to a more outdoor atmosphere and that may well be what visitors are looking for in an island holiday.