Humpty Dumpty’s talk of “unbirthdays”, mentioned in Paula Cocozza’s article (‘It’s a reset moment’: why are so many people celebrating half-birthdays?, 10 May), is actually a hint that Through the Looking-Glass is a half-birthday novel. It’s set on the eve of Bonfire Night – 4 November – when Alice is “seven years and six months”. The whole book (about rules, chess and winter) is the flip side of Alice in Wonderland (about misrule, cards and summer), set on 4 May, the real Alice Liddell’s birthday.
Jonathan Finn
South Kensington, London
• A long-serving headteacher of my acquaintance had his own answer to his paperwork backlog (Letters, 12 May). This was to turn the pile upside down and work from the top down. Inevitably, something requiring his attention would be in the middle of the pile and left unanswered – to which he philosophically applied the theory that “if it is that important they will get in touch with me again”.
Les Forester
Greetland, West Yorkshire
