WELL said, Heather Causnett (Letters, July 4).

Sadly, parents think once a child starts school their job is done. No reading stories, no doing anything as a family.

Just give them a mobile phone, a TV and a computer. Makes life so much easier.

No wonder manners and consideration for others have been forgotten.

Eunice Birch, Coombs Close, Sutton-on-the-Forest, York

 

FURTHER to the correspondence a few months back from the Breathe Easy chairman regarding the moving of the memorial bench from the front of the York Hospital.

I have now seen everything. At 7.30am one morning last week while waiting to collect my wife from her night shift, there was a patient sat on one of the ‘No Smoking’ benches puffing away.

At the same time there was a hospital cleaner sweeping away the hundreds of cigarette ends from around the smoker’s feet – you couldn’t make it up.

Is there not anyone from within the hospital with the authority or the bottle to enforce the rules?

While I am on my high horse, some time ago there were various letters regarding the removal of doggy deposits from footpaths, etc.

Is there a law regarding the removal of horse droppings from suburban streets or is it considered a bonus for gardeners?

Most Sunday mornings at around 7.30am, two horses with riders walk down Almsford Drive leaving their inevitable deposits along the way.

Why do these people feel a need to ride on suburban streets?

Isn’t there enough countryside in the immediate vicinity for them?

Chris Pearson, Almsford Drive, Acomb, York

 

I HAVE just read the latest nonsense about how dangerous ‘raw’ milk is.

This brought home to me just how ludicrous modern labelling has become.

Somehow, despite my consuming foods which didn’t inform me via those two ‘Best before’ and ‘Use by’ dates, I have managed to reach the age of 78 without being poisoned.

I remember a local farmer (Mr Broadley) delivering milk to our village (New Earswick) in his horse-drawn cart.

My mother would take her milk jug out to him. Mr Broadley would use his long-handled dipper to get milk from the churn and transfer it to mother’s jug. The jug would be covered with a piece of muslin and, as there was only enough for one day, wouldn’t go sour even on the hottest days.

Bacon would be put in the meat safe (with its metal mesh cover), which allowed cool air blowing through it to keep it fresh. Occasionally a fly would get under the mesh and lay its eggs on the bacon.

Mother would simply brush the eggs off and use the bacon as usual.

My mother and all people of that generation (and myself now) would use the ‘Mk 1 Food Freshness Detector’ which was/is conveniently stuck on the front of their/our faces – the nose.

Philip Roe, Roman Avenue South, Stamford Bridge, York

 

TAVELLING by bus to return to York from Ripon, we were approaching York and got stuck at the end of a long queue of traffic trailing back from the ring road roundabout.

It soon became apparent that anyone who is familiar with the area was heading off the A59 into Upper Poppleton at either the motel or the next turning and then exiting opposite the Park & Ride as there is no traffic light for traffic turning left out of Upper Poppleton’s Station Avenue towards York.

Even when the traffic lights were on green for the A59, the traffic was still flowing out.

Unless some deterrent/restriction is introduced this will continue to add to the chaos.

The bus we were on was already ten minutes late and this junction added another 20 minutes to the journey.

I can understand why locals take this action, but will something be done to sort out this mess?

The poor bus driver would be so frustrated at being so far behind schedule for reasons completely out of his control.

Linda Nelson, Huntington, York

 

LOOKING at the proposals in the budget for social housing, more high earners will be buying their property so there will be less homes for the needy.

The priority should be to hold on to what social housing is left, not selling off council property.

But the years of selling social housing has brought all these issues to a head in the UK.

Not being able to build in years past with the money from houses sold for a peppercorn price, we now have little stock to serve the nation.

Keith Chapman, Custance Walk, York