HOW old do you have to be not to understand that 0C is freezing and that 32F is the same?

Most people just use common sense, and when they’re cold, they’re cold; when they're hot, they’re hot and when they’re fine, they don’t need anyone to tell them how fine they are.

The non-metric oldie writing to you (Oxford Mail ViewPoints, December 15) is probably younger than I, who is a real oldie but one who has not yet given up hope.

I know what six inches and six feet of snow look like, having spent many happy hours jumping into six foot snowdrifts in the 1963 blizzards which brought the whole country to a halt.

We can blame the European Union for many nonsensical rules but we cannot, however much we would like to, plant a prune on them, blame them for the cold, our cold and being cold.

As a boy, prunes to me were always a mystery and I must say that I have to thank the EU for insisting on calling a prune a dried plum.

You wouldn’t believe how I tried to explain to myself what a prune might be. Don’t laugh.

There was a time when asking silly questions resulted in a silly walk off the end of a gang-plank.

Prunes and custard – part of our heritage, whether you like it or not!

John MacAllister, Chamberlain Place, Kidlington