One of our wedding presents in 1960 was the very latest model of vacuum cleaner. My husband was entranced and commandeered the machine instantly. From that moment, vacuuming became his domain (Letters, 28 December). Other forms of housework and cooking were complete no-go areas, but floors were immaculate. When he died nearly 46 years later, I did manage to locate the on/off switch, but I was forced to find the instruction booklet, having failed to gain access to the inner workings and a near-bursting bag of dust.
Valerie Lewis
Wantage, Oxfordshire
Helen Keating claims that 60 years ago in the north, “her indoors” kept the soap dispenser filled up (Letters, 25 December). More likely a lump of carbolic.
Kenneth Ball
Ditchling, Sussex
Ammar Kalia (‘I will be resisting the urge to watch so much TV’: the thing I’ll do differently in 2023, 27 December) will find his goal of TV “quality over quantity” easy to achieve if he watches from an upright chair instead of the sofa. I watch via iPlayer on my PC, from a comfortable office chair. Two or three hours is the maximum I can manage. Instant quality control.
Rita Gallard
Norwich
The call from the archbishop of Canterbury and the pope for cessation of hostilities in Ukraine (Report, 25 December) might have carried more weight if they had urged Patriarch Kirill in Moscow to join their appeal. Kirill’s collusion with Vladimir Putin in the last 10 months is to the enduring disgrace of the Russian Orthodox Church.
David Handley
Gargrave, North Yorkshire