Sir, - It being my occasional ritual for almost a generation, I stopped off at a Kylemore Bakery before leaving town last Friday evening. As usual, I asked the assistant to wrap me a Russian Gateau, a favourite of mine, and the traditional speciality of this well-known Dublin institution. Without warning, a curt reply ricocheted off the high counter: "We don't make them any more!"
What? Cash in hand, I turned away in disbelief. When Handel's Messiah is ransacked and the humble Russian Gateau is made redundant, then truly this is the end of civilisation as we know it! - Yours, etc.,
Oliver McGrane, Marley Avenue, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.