SIR,

Jumping Jupiters, residents of Monmouth, look around you!

Perusing the letters of a various backlog of Monmouthshire Beacons, I was struck by some of the shared characteristics held by the contributors.

Dog poo, bin bags, youths, a little bit more dog poo and finally some dog poo are the trending rants to be flung across page six.

It got me thinking about how very easy it is to become insular and negative, hunkering down in an angry stew of he-said-she-said-someone-do-something.

We live in an utterly glorious part of the world. There is no war, no ravaging conflict, no shootings in our local schools.

We have access to clean water, to education, to opportunities.

Nothing is perfect, no community is perfect, no governing body is perfect, this I understand.

I dare you, residents of Monmouthshire, to do something nice for someone and feel good about it. To look around you and think yes, today is a nice day. Smile at a stanger and make small talk to the person waiting next to you in the supermarket queue.

Buy one thing this week at one of our small town businesses.

And pick up your dog poo, it's really very simple.

Esmerelda Sparkles

(Usk)