Extreme caution should be used with the suggested method of removing an avocado stone (From eggs to garlic: how to peel anything, G2, 4 July). I too used to plunge a sharp knife into the avocado stone – until one day about three years ago when the blade slipped and took out a chunk of my hand. Since then I have used a dessert spoon to get the stone out (a method endorsed by my GP’s practice nurse).
Elspeth Reid
Tintern, Monmouthshire
• Adrian Chiles is absolutely correct. The stress of being deaf in hospital helps neither patient nor medics (Why everyone over 55 should be taught how to lip-read, G2, 11 July). He is very welcome to join our lip-reading group in September term. We need at least six people to continue.
Jean Jackson
Seer Green, Buckinghamshire
• So this “teenage daredevil” has had offers from motivational speaking agencies (How a teenage climber scaled the Shard, 11 July)? I hope he is kept well away from speaking in my grandchildren’s schools’ assemblies.
Toby Wood
Peterborough, Cambridgeshire
• Steve Pound’s letter (11 July) reminds me of Mahatma Gandhi being described as a super calloused fragile mystic plagued with halitosis.
David Shannon
Ireland’s Cross, Shropshire
• The deficiencies of Izal and Bronco toilet tissue (Letters, 11 July) were wiped out by their strength as musical instruments (comb and paper) and art material (tracing paper).
Hazel Imbert
Worthing, West Sussex
• The Izal toilet paper in my 1930s kindergarten school toilet had a little rhyme printed on each sheet.
Mary McKeown
Biddenham, Bedfordshire
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