A plea from the knuckles by Cathy Gardner

Delivering leaflets to every house/bungalow/flat for the local elections has a strange side effect. Raw knuckles and a hatred of letterboxes. I can hear anyone who has had to deliver a lot shouting "YES!" as they read that.

Feel sorry for your postie and take a look at your own post receptacle. Do you have a letterbox? If so, is it obvious?

You would be amazed how many properties don't have one, the owners clearly expecting a substitute container to be obvious: "Oh, put it in that plastic box by the gate".

I've walked all the way round some properties searching in vain for something that looks like a front door with a letterbox in it.

They are hidden in the strangest places. Why hide something that people need to find? The next time you see someone wandering around your house clutching a bundle of leaflets you will know why.

If you spot the letterbox the next challenge is how to get your flimsy leaflet to go through it.

Modern letterboxes come equipped with two flaps and some kind of hard bristly barrier. Just try it your self – open the outer flap up, push the thin paper through the bristles and through the inner flap…… fingers not long enough? Knuckles rubbing on the door? Leaflet folding back on itself? Yes, I thought so.

Then there are the letterboxes that are some kind of sadistic joke – designed to look like a traditional letterbox but actually you need to lift the whole thing up. Ha ha.

Letterboxes down on the ground make our knees ache (most volunteers and candidates are not that young!). 1950s letter boxes are too small. The varieties are almost endless. The result is raw knuckles and bleeding.

My heart soars when I see a proper box by the gate. Think of your postie when you get a new letterbox. And my knuckles.

This opinion piece was written in a personal capacity by councillor Cathy Gardner.