Adrian Chiles (Wearing glasses as a teen was awful. In middle age, it’s worse, G2, 17 October) should really have done some homework before rushing into print. For a start, middle-aged eyesight issues are not longsightedness but presbyopia, which is an increasing inability to focus close-up due to a stiffening of the lenses. Longsightedness is something else altogether. But I have good news for Adrian. He doesn’t need to give up on his contact lenses – just ask his optician for a new prescription for monovision, whereby he can have one eye for close up and the other for distant vision. From years of personal experience, I can assure him it works. The human brain adapts.
Roger Wilkinson
Leasgill, Cumbria
• Should Adrian Chiles venture this far north he will find vegan sausage rolls on sale at Yellop’s Bakery, hot £1.30, cold £1.10.
Margaret Vandecasteele
Wick, Caithness
• My experience, while teaching English overseas, was of well-intentioned school staff writing notices that occasionally failed to account for the nuances we use appropriately without thinking. A famous misuse was evident in a Japanese hotel with a notice inviting guests to “take advantage of the chamber maid” (Letters, 18 October).
Peter Stewart
Northfields, London
• At my prep school in the 1950s high tea was preceded by low tea. Both were horrible (Letters, 11 October).
Jim Golcher
Greens Norton, Northamptonshire
• Three arrested in connection with stolen gold toilet (Report, 17 October). Caught but not caught short?
Michael Cunningham
Wolverhampton
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