On Saturday, the temperature in north Worcestershire was 14C, the weather cloudy to overcast. At lunchtime, I had just received a phone message advising of a yellow weather warning for heavy rain, travel disruption and flooding when the first ice-cream van of the season breezed into our crescent, merrily chiming “Daisy, Daisy / Give me your answer, do”. Is this a record?
David Collins
Kidderminster, Worcestershire
• I wish my husband had received one of the Valentine’s cards (Relatives decry undertakers’ Valentine’s cards sent to care home residents, 16 February). Much better than the circular we received the same day. The envelope stated: “Important news from Britain’s most trusted funeral plan.” In the upper right corner, it said “time sensitive”. Indisputable. As if those of us with relatives living with dementia in care homes didn’t know. Now that is a misjudged, appalling stunt.
Jan Jeffries
Brewood, Staffordshire
• The government incentives mentioned in Anita Roy’s Country Diary (16 February) for farmers to restore hedgerows no longer exist, with the end of cross compliance on 31 December. This means that unless farmers follow the old guidelines on preservation, hedgerows can be cut back, threatening nesting farmland birds, many of which are already in severe decline.
Ros Harrison
Sevenoaks, Kent
• Yes, Geoffrey Wheatcroft, I felt the same about Olivier’s Othello (Letters, 15 February). I remember squirming at his appalling performance that all the critics had praised to the skies.
Katherine El-Salahi
Oxford
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