I HAVE been reading, with great interest, the latest round of correspondence in your journal regarding parking in Tavistock.
I feel I must take issue with the epistle offered by Mr Lansdell. By taking the town council to task over the repainting of white lines, he is, I fear, trying to jemmy open the lid of Pandora?s Box.
The pleasure of manoeuvring one?s vehicle into a parking space resplendent with freshly painted white lines is akin to the tactile experience of slipping naked between freshly laundered cotton sheets.
Far from being ?oppressive constraints?, these ?tyrannical line markings? are in fact the linear equivalent of open arms. They welcome the weary motorist into their own cocooned, private sanctuary, safe in the knowledge that their vehicle will be positioned uniformly, parallel to fellow car park users and hence using the parking space to optimum efficiency.
Anally retentive? Perhaps. An important issue to debate in these times of impending World Crisis? Perhaps not. However, to decry the efforts (on the basis of mild inconvenience during peak traffic times) of the borough council in repainting these lines is churlish to the extreme.
To paraphrase the lyrics by Grandmaster Flash in his hit of a few years ago; ?White Lines (Do It)?.
On a personal note, so impressed am I with the efforts of the council in promoting the superior vehicle positioning facilities (despite the crabbed mutterings of your Bere Alston correspondent) that I am planning a trip to the South West in the very near future.
Furthermore, I am contemplating transferring payment of my not inconsiderable council tax to the coffers of West Devon Borough Council.
Richard Wall
Suckley
Worcestershire