Dear Editor,
Anyone with an eye for aesthetics will be delighted with the effort at having refreshing scenery restored with the removal of vendors from the Co-op Crescent at Linden, which had become a real eyesore.
Those who are older will remember when both sides of the river banks were cleared except for the boat landings, the McKenzie Market and the wharves. Standing on either side of the river provided quite a view, from the McKenzie shore one could have gotten an almost clear view of the entire Wismar plane and its hilly vegetation reaching for the sky, and from the Wismar Hill a panoramic view of nearly the entire McKenzie formation, the clear and long range of the meandering Demerara and the riverain area. What beauty and soothing pleasure the blackberry Demerara provided for many who took leisure either sitting or standing along its banks, with the rising or the setting of the sun, looking at the long winding river, sometimes calm, other times rough, and the wind; at times mellow, at times gusty, and constant interruption by the smooth sailing in and out of Saguenay bauxite ships which were always nice to gaze upon, the RH Carr and those ever present canoes. Otis Redding’s song “Sitting on the dock of the Bay” was/is so familiar to many of the older folks who have done just that, sitting and watching ships come and go.
How splendid it was. This scenery along both sides of the river provided the muse and fired the imagination of poets and song writers so that an anthology of poems by residents entitled “The River between” was born. But population growth, development and other factors do have consequences that are not always gracious to nature’s design and oftentimes bring along a number of negatives.
Harsh as the Linden Town Council had seemed to be they can take a bow for this positive action. What exactly their plans are for the beautification of this area is left to be seen, and no doubt include the final removal of that most unsightly and unhealthy garbage trailer next to De Younge’s boat landing.
Yours faithfully,
Frank Fyffe