Talkative tables

SIR – Wynne Weston-davies (Letters, April 21) is right: round tables are a curse. I know it is a “first-world problem”, but I have suffered many evenings and wedding receptions placed between my husband (whom I love but see every day) and another person, often a complete stranger, sometimes a bit deaf.

With a large table, flowers and candles, and a low ceiling that produces a high ambient noise level, conversation becomes hard work.

The perfect table is small and narrow, with just enough space for essentials – preferably two or three seats each side and one each end.

Result: a merry conversation. Stephanie Webster

Woking, Surrey