Thanks for featuring the cherry tree as the Tree of the week (11 May). The local farmer who advised us on the planting insisted that we tie the sapling to a stake using my wife’s tights rather than rope – as the tights would not mark the bark. Ten years after planting, the tights finally rotted away – and the bark of the tree is unmarked to this day.
Ron Jeffries
Ilford, London
• How about a shout out for Sunday mornings on Radio 6 Music (Letters, 7 May): three hours of the irrepressible Radcliffe and Maconie (including the zany “crisps on the radio” some weeks) followed by three hours of the wonderful Cerys Matthews and her eclectic music mix. Brings a smile to the face in these difficult times.
Ruth Lister
Labour, House of Lords
• The Norfolk Wildlife Trust may see in a robin’s song: “tone of introspection and understated tragedy” (Editorial, 8 May) – other interpretations are available. I was once walking up a lane in north Wales with my grandson when a robin began to sing. Three-year-old Joseph halted briefly, and with a puzzled smile, inquired of me: “What’s that dripping noise?”
Peter Betts
Liverpool
• Quite a few words with double Us come to mind (Letters, 6 and 7 May). From the more familiar (continuum, vacuum) to the less so (menstruum, triduum, residuum, (caput) mortuum, Carduus) to the barely believable winner with two double-U pairs (muu-muu). There may be yet more.
Jonathan Crowther
Oxford
• How many letters about double Us will it take to form a continuum?
Ian Barker
Caton, Lancashire
