Madam, - Alison Healy (Opinion, February 10th) complains that, although she is obviously pregnant, she is seldom offered a seat on a crowded commuter train. My experience is extraordinarily at variance with hers: I can barely enter a crowded carriage (or bus), even for a short journey, without being offered a seat.
I am retired; and I often feel that it is not fair for someone who has, perhaps, completed a day's work (and paid a fare, unlike myself) to be expected to pamper the old in this way. It is impressive and moving to encounter such courtesy and charm from people, mostly young, of both sexes and various races. Even when I try to avoid any eye contact, very often a gentle tap on the arm or shoulder and a self-deprecating smile make it clear that the courtesy is a compulsion from the heart of the giver, not one prompted by convention or etiquette.
I can't but be astonished at the contrast with your contributor's experience. Nor can I let hers become the only account reported to your paper of Dubliners' behaviour on public transport. - Yours, etc.,
MICHAEL ANDREWS, Merrion Road, Dublin 4.