Q. Last year I decided to share a flat with an old, but not very close, friend from school. It was a rushed decision because I had no one else at the time. But she’s far more anxious than I’d imagined. She seems to struggle with the concept of emotional independence. I try to keep boundaries but it’s hard when a person lives with you. As well as all this, she is messy and doesn’t have enough money to pay for the cleaners, so I’m on the hunt for a new housemate. I feel bad casting her aside as she works in the local bakery, and she’ll be hard-pressed finding a deal as good as this. What should I do?

— Name withheld, London W10

A. Break the news with a beaming grin of positivity. Explain you have come up with a marvellous solution, both for her tendency towards introspection and for her limited income – the little-known agency helpfulhousemates.co.uk. It matches older people with spare bedrooms with younger people on low incomes. In exchange for a peppercorn rent, the younger person helps the older with light chores such as dog-walking etc. Be firm if she retorts that she prefers the status quo, insisting it would do her good to focus on enhancing someone else’s life rather than worrying about her own. Besides, you are going to have to increase the rent substantially in any case.

Q. Is there a way to encourage men to sign up for singleton events without making them feel pressured? Last spring I persuaded a friend to send out an email advertising a singletons’ walk. We live in a remote rural area and the event sold out immediately. It was a fun day but the males were outnumbered by females by a ratio of four to one. We would have had more men but they applied after we sold out. If we could balance the numbers we would do this again. Any suggestions, Mary?

— Name and address withheld

A. Women tend to be much quicker off the mark than men where socialising is concerned. You should therefore quietly ignore the first come, first served protocol. Let’s say you have a capacity of 40, and there are 35 female applicants on the day the invitations go out. Wait until 17 male applicants have come forward before you confirm places for the first 23 women.

Q. May I pass on a tip to readers? Buy a 350g bag of frozen blackberries. Put them into a pan for ten minutes on a low heat until soft. Once soft, sieve the juice into a bowl and add two tablespoons of whipped cream. You can present this as blackberry fool.

— J.F., London SW12

A. How very kind of you to share this tip.