What happened to the joy of recreational sport (‘I spent a week crying. I’ve never had an injury in my life!’ Why do so many fitness fans end up needing surgery?, 3 August)? It’s like modern life – goal and target-oriented. PBs, how many laps, lengths, miles? Have to get the laps in, even if the back is killing me. Why? Is it about bragging rights? As a lifelong sports and exercise enthusiast aged 77 and still loving it, I really don’t understand the motivation for wilfully destroying your body in the name of sport.
Barbara Smyth
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire

My experience of WhatsApp blue ticks differs (Letters, 29 July). During the Covid pandemic, every day I rejoiced in seeing the blue tick on a message from a family member who lived alone and had Covid: they were still alive.
Ann Newell
Thame, Oxfordshire

Patrick Barkham wouldn’t be so fond of woodlice (‘Bumbling, mumbling’ tidiers of our world: the unexpected superpowers of the common woodlouse, 3 August) if, like me, he found them every day munching into his ripening strawberries on his allotment.
Malcolm Rivers
Isleworth, London

Your daily Country Diary column is always informative, but I encourage readers to join the game it offers. I cover up the name of its author before reading the column and then guess whether it was written by a man or a woman. I’m correct 99% of the time. No disrespect to the contributors is intended.
Ros Cordiner
Ludham, Norfolk

Re the article From The Wizard of Oz to Trainspotting: 25 films to watch before you turn 25 (2 August), someone at the Guardian has an optimistic idea of the paper’s readership profile.
Mike Hine (age 79¾)
Kingston upon Thames, London