Breaking the ice at bird-bath parties and other Christmas conundrums
sir – Advice on how to prevent the water in our birdbath from freezing over has included placing a rubber ball or a ping-pong ball in the water.
Last winter we tried the rubber ball, only to find that the water froze around it; this year, the lightest of light breezes has blown the ping-pong ball off the water.
Any better ideas from your readers, before I have to deprive the birds of their water for fear of damage to the bath during this cold period? Maurice David West
Croydon, Surrey
sir – This week my home insurance provider sent an email recommending that I open the loft hatch to heat the roof space in order to prevent the cold water tank from freezing.
Only recently I took advantage of a Government-backed scheme to have my roof insulated in order to conserve energy. Do I leave the loft hatch open, or remove the loft insulation, to avoid a flood of cold water? David Rumsey
Pinner, Middlesex
sir – Now that the weather has turned cold, may I be the first to thank the many shop owners who leave their doors wide open to warm passers-by. Mark Solon
London N1
sir – Christmas is a time for the giving and receiving of men’s socks. This can result in disappointment as, unlike the denier numbers for ladies’ stockings, there is no standard system for grading the thickness of men’s socks.
The resulting mismatch between sock and shoe produces unnecessary discomfort, which can be overcome if Britain uses Brexit as the opportunity to establish new standards. John Pennington
Port Erin, Isle of Man sir – Barbara Southward (Letters, December 14) was disappointed to discover how little money from the sale of Christmas cards can go to the charity selling them.
This is not universally true. In our case, all the profit from card sales comes to the charity. Our in-house trading company, staffed by the same team that runs the charity, has already started the process of selecting designs for next year.
We regard every card as an ambassador for our work. Other charities operate similarly. Cdre Malcolm Williams
Chief Executive, Shipwrecked Mariners’ Society Chichester, West Sussex
sir – It is bad enough for senior citizens to have a relentlessly diminishing Christmas card list – but how can we avoid the embarrassment of sending cards to the departed when we only send cards to old friends once a year? Loris Goring
Brixham, Devon
sir – I eagerly await the arrival of the annual “knocking the Christmas letter” season. The late journalist Simon Hoggart insisted on calling such letters “round robins” – an erroneous use of that naval expression.
It baffles me that remembering Christ’s birth by sending a card with a robin or a stage-coach on it is more acceptable than a carefully crafted, news-filled letter. After all, sending letters to fellow Christians is not a new idea. Didn’t St Paul do it about 2,000 years ago? Daphne Clarke
Richmond, North Yorkshire