MADAM, My wife and I are pensioners who love Ross and its environs. We have family here and visit quite frequently. We have just come back from spending a week in the area and I find myself wondering, more in sorrow than in anger, if the good people of Ross realise how increasingly expensive the town is becoming compared with one's home town - in our case, Birmingham.

Petrol has always been dearer in Ross but the difference has now reached seven pence a litre (142 as opposed to 135). Selling by the litre is a convenient con trick to disguise prices but, in the old days of gallons, a garage which sold petrol at thirty pence a gallon over the odds would soon go out of business. I now fill the tank to the brim in Birmingham and then restrict mileage to make sure I never buy a drop in Ross.

We now eat out less than we would like when in Ross. For lunch we make our own sandwiches rather than pay £4.50 for those which would cost £2.50 at home. ln the evenings we no longer have

£7.50 starters, which would cost £3 or £4 at home. £5.50 desserts take second thoughts when they would be £3 chez nous. When we launched the boat for our Wedding Anniversary and went somewhere posh we paid nearly £200 for a meal with wine which we felt should have been half the price. ln all cases I have tried to match like with like as regards standard of venue.

We found exceptions of course and I would dearly like to give them a free advert but I am sure the Editor would not approve.

Economies of Scale is a maxim Ross should take to heart. lt is better to make £1 profit from ten customers than £2 from three or four.

JAMES SNOWDON, Birmingham

Editor's note: Living and working in Ross we know there is a great variety of places to eat and drink in the town, with many different price ranges. Do our readers agree that Ross as a whole is more expensive to visit?