Rural readers rejoice: you can still have subscription vouchers for the Guardian (Letters, 9 August). After several anxious telephone calls, I managed to convince the subscriptions manager that my distant rural newsagent doesn’t have access to a scanner, and that vouchers were the only way that I could continue 50-plus years of Guardian readership. A new booklet turned up within a week.
Susannah J Everington
Marshwood, Dorset
• In a supermarket in Nice, France, last year, one of the checkouts bore the sign “caisse papotages” (small- talk checkout), with a cashier trained to converse with customers (Letters, 6 August). A great boon to the lonely, but not so good for tourists who join this queue with two croissants and a bottle of wine.
Jenny Russell
Tunbridge Wells, Kent
