YOUR anonymous correspondent (June 19) sneers at Walden s town-dwellers for wanting street lights, comparing us unfavourably with hardy villagers like himself who are happy to stumble around in unmarked ditches by starlight. Well, good for him and his gum

YOUR anonymous correspondent (June 19) sneers at Walden's town-dwellers for wanting street lights, comparing us unfavourably with hardy villagers like himself who are happy to stumble around in unmarked ditches by starlight.

Well, good for him and his gumboots but if he would take time off from congratulating himself on his rustic courage perhaps he could give a moment's thought to the fact that many of us effete townies live where we do by choice - and our choices are as worthy as his, even if we are less mud bespattered.

He may find this a bit tricky to grasp but one of my reasons for living in the town rather than down his brambly lane was the presence of street lighting. It's what towns do, do you see? Light their streets. Call me old-fashioned...

Put the lights back on, please. They won't interfere with his pre-cocoa contemplation of scudding clouds and moonlit deer but they will discourage muggers from hanging around my street corner.

Jill Gunsell, Sweet Mead, Saffron Walden