24 OCTOBER 1992, Page 29

Slow reader, fast driver

Sir: This is in reference to Nigel Nicolson's Piece in your 1 August issue (I am a slow reader!). In it he speaks of his dream of owning an open-top Mercedes. 'But I would look foolish, would I not, a septuage- narian flaunting his virility?' he writes. I am a late septuagenarian and drive with zest and enthusiasm a 1953 MGTD and a 1967 Camaro — both 'open-top'. When I drive to the village in either of them old ladies wave, young ladies jump up and down, old men dream dreams and young men look envious. My wife says that I am giving way to my baser instincts. But I say — go for it, Nigel. You're only a septuagenarian once.

Wesley H. Bradley

Massawippi Lodge, PO Box 514, North Hatley, Quebec, Canada