Red phone boxes (The long read, 28 April) would return your money if the call didn’t get through – but only if you remembered to press button B. One of the delights of childhood was going into a phone box, checking if button B had been pressed after a failed call and collecting the fourpence. Rarely successful, but when it was…
Jan Clark
Everdon, Northamptonshire
• I have a deep affection for the red phone box. This is not because it is iconic or that I was a great user, but because my mother used it to help me cope with the devastation of a failed adolescent infatuation. I had, she advised, pressed button B and got my shaken emotions back, but one day I would press button A and my desires and emotions would be rewarded. They were.
Michael Scarborough
Riddlesden, West Yorkshire
• Buyers of the Daily Mail at my local supermarket rarely take the copy on top of the pile. They usually select one several copies beneath. I have never observed Guardian buyers do this. What sort of contamination are Mail readers afraid of, I wonder?
Geoff Walmsley
Wirral, Merseyside
• Re Jessica Fostekew on questionable compliments (25 April), my mum never criticised what I wore, but I can recall her saying: “You look better in that.”
Julie Wilson
Northampton
• The Hollies did produce some “bubblegum pop” (Interview, 3 May), but also made He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother – a magnificent, moving song and probably the only hit to include the word “encumber”.
Richard Percy
Newburgh, Lancashire
• Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication.
