Letters

Ulmarra is in the pink – but watch your step

Ed, As members of a proud and close-knit community, the people of Ulmarra would very much like to thank Clarence Valley Council on its choice of colour for the latest attempt to beautify the village’s footpaths. Scores of spray cans of an illuminating and eye-catching pink have been used to inform locals and visitors to watch-their-step when negotiating pedestrian pitfalls. But the problem I have with all this is that so much paint has been applied by an angular fellow with a computer around his neck – seemingly informing him of village hotspots – that my life has come under threat. At the going down of the sun, I am wont to visit my local for a cleansing ale or two on most days. The trouble is, I can’t use the footpaths on my trek because I can’t see the painted warnings! So, I use the roads. A small part of my journey takes in the Pacific Highway – a well-known killer in its own right – and then River Street. Because I can’t see the trouble spots on my trip to and from the pub, there is every chance I’ll get cleaned up by a vehicle whose driver didn’t see me, either. Ulmarra has been painted so many times that the cost of paint and the wages of the artistic angular fellow must certainly amount to the construction of new footpaths right around the village. Love the colour, though. Ray Brown, Ulmarra