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Dear Stan, I loved Shilpa's piece about Dr Tarik Abdul-Ghaffar's journey to America for the launch of Apollo 17 and the memories he brought back with him to Bahrain.

It must have been a great honour for him to represent the kingdom at such an important occasion as the last moon launch and I laughed at his mention of being small enough to get close to Neil Armstrong in all the pictures. What an experience.

Thanks for sharing his story with us. Keep up the good work.

Chris Jones,

Adliya.

Dear Stan,

Hope you know that readers like me have to wait seven full days to get the next issue of GulfWeekly or 168 hours or 10,080 minutes or 604,800 seconds.

This is a long waiting period for such a magazine which is widely read amongst all the cross section of society in Bahrain and abroad.

Though the weekend starts on a Thursday, Wednesday brings happiness in the shape of GulfWeekly to its readers. I understand and admire the hard work you and your entire team is putting in bring out an issue.

Keep it up and well done.

Faizan Ahmed.

Dear Stan,

I want to thank GulfWeekly for highlighting the work of Adel Salman in bringing first aid knowledge to the island.

Mr Salman must have been deeply affected by the needless death of his friend and I hope his lessons will help the rest of us to take the time to gain first aid knowledge and help avoid such tragedies in the future.

I only wish that the teaching of first aid was more common in our schools.

Nadia Salman, Amwaj.

Dear Stan,

I can't believe Betsy devoted almost a whole page last week to instructing someone on how to paint their toenails.

I usually look forward to reading Betsy's page but to be honest this was about as interesting as watching (toenail) paint dry.

Cindy Jenson, Saar.

Editor's note: Everyone's entitled to their opinion but our Betsy does like to do a thorough job.

See Page 9

Dear Stan,

I really enjoy reading GulfWeekly each week and particularly liked last week's pictures of the birdlife on the Hawar Islands.

I wish you and your team continued success and keep up the good work.

Jamal Al Hamdi, Gudaibiya.

Dear Stan,

I was pleased to see GulfWeekly highlighting the need for everyone to have at least basic first aid knowledge.

Every year on this island we read about people, particularly children, drowning in swimming pools and the sea. Recently there was even a near tragedy at one of the island's best known hotels.

We are on an island surrounded by water where many people have access to a pool yet an awful lot of people don't know how to swim and have no idea what to do if someone gets into trouble.

And as Adel Salman points out, we also have a terrifying road accident record made worse by the fact that so few people know the first aid basics.

Think how you would feel if someone close to you was in trouble and you were unable to help them simply through a lack of knowledge. I would urge everyone to make an effort to learn first aid and would also encourage parents to teach their children about water safety or not let them in the water unless there is a lifeguard on hand. Hassan Al Afoor, by email.