HAS anyone noticed the decline in manners over the past decade? People regularly walk while cramming giant burgers, and so on, into their mouths, while conducting a vociferous conversation with an accompanying adult.

My mother taught me “not to speak with a mouthful of food”, also to only speak when spoken to, which is hardly ever adhered to, with folk butting in when someone is talking to others.

And not to put elbows on the dining table at meal times. I often see diners at cafes/restaurants with an elbow on the table alongside plates of food, while chatting on their mobile phone.

Supermarket checkout queues are often long, hence a few impatient shoppers try desperately to barge their way ahead of a few patient people in the queue.

On the roads it is no better with impatient drivers often risking theirs and others’ lives by overtaking on the inside lane when queues are building at roundabouts – then they cross into the righthand lane on the roundabout just to get ahead of the queue. If a driver at the front of the queue at traffic lights is a few seconds late in moving forward frequently we hear horns being sounded from vehicles behind.

ADRIAN TAYLOR, Duncan Close, Eynsham