As I luxuriated in a swift and comfortable journey with Brittany Ferries from Cherbourg on Sunday, I was wondering why so many people use the fractious Dover-Calais crossing (Travellers face six-hour delays at UK border control in Calais, 4 September)? The discovery of a little-known part of Normandy can add to the pleasure of a holiday.
Val Mainwood
Wivenhoe, Essex
• I have difficulty knowing how to refer to the young woman who is in a long-term relationship with my son (Letters, 5 September). They do not wish to get married. She cannot be known as my daughter-in-law and I do not like the term “partner” as it could mean a business, male or female partner. “Other half” is clumsy. If she is a common law wife, could I call her my son’s wife?
Alison Norris
Cirencester, Gloucestershire
• My niece came across letters from my mum to my brother when he was doing national service in Sudan from 1951 to 1953 (Letters, 4 September). These were letters from a working-class woman to her son thousands of miles away, and the social history that they incidentally contained is so interesting. To hear my mum’s voice in the love and concern for her son moved me to tears. I can’t see emails having the same effect.
Margaret Lee
Sheffield
• My mother, from southern Scotland, eschewed blackberries in October because “the devil’s in them” (Letters, 4 September). My mother-in-law, from Devon, also refused to pick in that month because “the devil’s peed on them”.
John Murphy
Chelmsford, Essex
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