What happened to the joy of recreational sport (‘I spent a week crying. I’ve never had an injury in my life!’ Why do so many fitness fans end up needing surgery?, 3 August)? It’s like modern life – goal and target-oriented. PBs, how many laps, lengths, miles? Have to get the laps in, even if the back is killing me. Why? Is it about bragging rights? As a lifelong sports and exercise enthusiast aged 77 and still loving it, I really don’t understand the motivation for wilfully destroying your body in the name of sport.
Barbara Smyth
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
• My experience of WhatsApp blue ticks differs (Letters, 29 July). During the Covid pandemic, every day I rejoiced in seeing the blue tick on a message from a family member who lived alone and had Covid: they were still alive.
Ann Newell
Thame, Oxfordshire
• Patrick Barkham wouldn’t be so fond of woodlice (‘Bumbling, mumbling’ tidiers of our world: the unexpected superpowers of the common woodlouse, 3 August) if, like me, he found them every day munching into his ripening strawberries on his allotment.
Malcolm Rivers
Isleworth, London
• Your daily Country Diary column is always informative, but I encourage readers to join the game it offers. I cover up the name of its author before reading the column and then guess whether it was written by a man or a woman. I’m correct 99% of the time. No disrespect to the contributors is intended.
Ros Cordiner
Ludham, Norfolk
• Re the article From The Wizard of Oz to Trainspotting: 25 films to watch before you turn 25 (2 August), someone at the Guardian has an optimistic idea of the paper’s readership profile.
Mike Hine (age 79¾)
Kingston upon Thames, London
• Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
