What's in a word?

A report by Marketing consultants titled Turning the Tide, said: “Whilst there is a great deal of nostalgic affection for places such as Rhyl and Colwyn Bay from childhood memories, the area (particularly Rhyl) still has a strong negative image. It is seen as shabby and depressing with little to do. It will be an uphill struggle to attract new customers unless this image can be challenged and altered.”

Conwy County Council leader Dilwyn Roberts yesterday denied that Colwyn Bay is depressing.
He said: “Colwyn Bay is the exact opposite of depressing. There is room to improve but we are identifying the potential.”

"Exact opposite of depressing...".  Antonyms for depressing are in surprisingly short supply, suggesting we are better at describing our misery than our elation.  However, those that exist include

beaming, smiling, lighthearted,  light-hearted, buoyant, chirpy, gay, debonair, debonaire, jaunty and chipper.  

Does anyone of those really describe Colwyn Bay? Or should the town be better described as

gloomy, bleak, dreary, grim, drab, somber, dark, dingy, funereal, cheerless, joyless, comfortless and uninviting?

Eirias park might have been until renovations took place recently. Unfortunately, they weren't instigated by the council;  rather the driving force behind those was the magnificent publicity campaign mounted by Cllr Oddy and a member of the local blogosphere that - between them - managed to embarrass CCBC into doing something.  In fact, if Cllr Dilwyn Roberts were truly serious about what he says, then he could make a worse start than by reading a couple of the better local blogs, all listed at the RH side of this blog.

There are numerous low-cost, immediately effective improvements that could be made to make Colwyn Bay even more appealing than it is, but they all need a Council mindset that will hasten and not impede, encourage and not dismiss the ideas being put forward.  Let's hope it happens.