I was a dyslexic child and during the school holidays my mother used to put me through the daily chore of reading out the Country diary as dictation, so I could practise my spelling. Although a lifelong Guardian reader, I have avoided it ever since. On Wednesday morning my eye caught the opening few words, “garrulous gatecrashers” and my spirits sank.
Dr Brian O’Callaghan
Sonning, Berkshire
• I love Kingsley Amis’s response to a challenge about the usefulness of apostrophes: “Those things over there are my husbands.” Three different possible meanings (‘Ignorance’ wins battle over use of apostrophe, 2 December).
Bryan Morgan
Worksop, Nottinghamshire
• A greengrocer’s in Hexham was once memorably (and accurately) described on Look North as the place where “the apostrophe becomes a catastrophe” (Pass notes, G2, 3 December).
Chris Southey
Durham
• I am 87. I still put my socks on while standing because Nancy Banks-Smith wrote that doing so sitting down was a sign of old age (Letters, 3 December).
Gordon Ward
Stroud, Gloucestershire
• Yates’s in Blackpool “was known for its Australian wine and draught beer” (The big picture, 30 November). In 1974 I was there recovering from a motorcycle accident. I had a pair of wooden crutches to get around. Having had my fair share of sherry one evening, I hopped down to the prom and promptly fell into the sea. A B&B room in Blackpool was never so cold.
Chris Trow
Otley, West Yorkshire
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