Your Letters
17:09 UK time, Wednesday, 24 October 2007
Re Going Postal II. You think you're badly off with the Royal Mail? Try living in the Republic of Ireland and posting a letter to Northern Ireland. It's technically European post so instead of driving it the few hundred miles up to Belfast it's sent to London first to be sorted.
Neill, Dublin, Ireland
Can the Royal Mail tell us how many of the 25m backlog items are parcels bound for Ealing in West London? I am waiting for two packages to arrive - one posted from Manchester on Wednesday 3 October (just before the first strike kicked in) and one from Sussex on 11 October. No sign of either and the anxiety is mounting.
Mike Dykes, Ealing, London UK
I sent an air mail letter on 7 Sept to Coventry. My daughter is still waiting for delivery.
Mervyn Williams, Daly City, California
Lucky old you, 10 out of 10. I am still waiting for a small package posted on 29 September to arrive. The Royal Mail has a so-called Tracking Service, but it can only trace a parcel once it's been delivered. Why would you want to track something after you've received it?
Andy Middlehurst, Spain
Re Going Postal II, it appears Sarah-Michelle Saunders got her postcard eventually, delivered slowly and caerphilly.
Daniel Morgan, Kent, UK
If Sheffield FC was the , who did they play?
Rob, Cambridge
Re the Asterix comments in Tuesday's letters. What most people fail to remember is that characters' names (such as Getafix and Cacophonix) are Anglicised versions of their Gallic names. Ideefix just does not work in English, hence he becomes Dogmatix, preserving some of the comical intent of the name. Likewise, in one adventure there are two Romans - one called Sendervictorius, the other Appyanglorius. This does not work in French. It is testament to the skill of the English translators that we are now all calling them by the wrong name. If the books are read in context in the original language, they're just as good, if not better.
R, UK
So researchers at the University of Sheffield think that Coventry is in the North and Lincoln isn't, despite Lincoln being nearly 60 miles further north than Coventry - and barely 10 miles south of Sheffield (). If one were a cynic, one might feel that their definition of north and south might be chosen purely to ensure that there is a north-south divide.
Alexander Lewis Jones, Nottingham, UK
Northern or Southern? I am neither, I am a Midlander - there's no magic line separating the North from the South. It's a whole other region called the Midlands - why do we always get overlooked?
Denise, Nottingham
Re the comments about Chinese symbol tattoos, when I was looking for one, I found two separate internet sites showing the same symbol translation, and as a final check, ordered a large take-out from our local restaurant and swapped a box of chocolates for confirmation of the translation when I collected our meals.
Shiz, Cheshire UK
Re , which says that Elizabeth's greatness rubbed off on Dame Judi Dench when she won her Oscar for just eight minutes screen time. Ah, yes, but as any film buff can tell you, that particular Oscar was a consolation for her failure to win the year before with her much-heralded performance in Mrs Brown… when she played Queen Victoria.
Phil, Angus, Scotland
The 
