CAN anyone tell me – MP's, the gods on Olympus, or (and now I'm being absurd) even the local council – why the village of Llandogo is treated with such apathy and indifference?

Could it be that we are between two kingdoms, like Middle Earth, governed by a load of hobbits? Our roads are like the Wacky Goldmine, our traffic calming non-existent, and our playground – despite numerous requests for a fence – remains the only one in the whole of the country fenceless yet just yards from a lethal stretch of main road which could be hired out to a film company as a backdrop for a film about Brands Hatch.

Now I appreciate that we have to get our priorities right, and that squeezing houses on to every available patch of green belt remaining must of course come first, but can anyone explain why a windmill-driven speed sign appeared for about two months at one end of the village, then upon the arrival of an entourage of lorries/equipment/busy little men disappeared once more into the ether and has never been seen again?

It took days to erect, weeks to take down, and never worked in the short time it was there. At the other end there remains one of these almost completely obscured by trees and lights up when Good Friday falls on a Sunday. How come every other village in the vicinity has an elaborate light-up display at each end worthy of an entry into Blackpool Illuminations? Despite the fact that the A466 through Llandogo is the most treacherous stretch of road between Bristol and Birmingham, used as a dragster skidpan by most vehicles, we have narrow pavements overgrown with brambles and nettles, with the only passing places for wide load shopping bags/pushchairs/dogs being the driveway to the bungalow or dangling from the monkey tree in the garden.

More than 20 years ago a friend of mine was killed in her garden on that road when a car hurtled round the bend and took off. Nothing was done then and it still remains the same.

The stretch of road out of the village to Catchmays Court is appalling. Recently work was carried out on the left hand side for months, rebuilding walls and supporting the road where it was falling away. They then packed up lock, stock and barrel and left the right-hand side pitted with at least 12 potholes. After weeks and weeks of spending more time sitting in front of traffic lights than I have in front of Coronation Street, I thought it would at least be worth it to have a decent road surface. Dream on! I still have to slalom my scooter in and out of huge holes and endure much light flashing, horn blowing and finger gesticulations if I should dare – horror of horrors – to hold up a car.

Never mind, when I am picking myself and my bike up out of a black hole screaming: "I'm going to sue someone for this...." I will take comfort in the fact that there is a lovely new wall at Coed Ithel..

You have been warned.

– Mrs J M Smith, Llandogo.