Q. I love and adore my gorgeous husband. The problem is that, when I try to talk to him in the mornings about important administrative matters, he begins speaking at the same time in a louder voice – on an unrelated subject. This has happened since he started working from home and I wonder if it is because he now has far fewer people to speak to in the course of the day. Whatever the reason, it’s stopping us from making progress. Any suggestions?

– C.B., Adlestrop, Gloucester

A. Bring up a voice memo on your smartphone and show your husband that it’s recording your dialogue. Keep trying until you’ve said what you need to say. Press stop. Press the three dots next to your voice memo, then ‘view transcript’. Print this out and hand it to your husband.  Leave the room while he reads it. He cannot heckle himself if he’s alone. Now come back into the room to get answers to your questions. Reading the transcript should be chastening to him. You should see an end to the nuisance although transcripts can serve as a useful back-up to counter typical male allegations that ‘you never told me that’.

Q. I am getting married in the spring. We have hired a really great videographer so that we can later share a film of the whole three days of the wedding. At that time we will also send out photo cards with a written thank you to everyone who has given us a wedding present. Some friends of our parents have already bought us presents from our list and my mother says we need to thank them immediately, rather than leaving it six months.  But I believe it would be so much better to do it properly at the time when I can include a wonderful concertina card of the day itself with a nice thank you in writing inside it. Who’s right?

– S.B., Braintree, Essex

A. The delay in thanking is viewed dimly by the older generation. Why no spontaneous gush of heartfelt gratitude on immediate receipt of the present? Does it mean you didn’t like it? If you did then how could you resist saying so? At the very least you should send an enthusiastic acknowledgement saying you will thank them properly after the wedding. The older generation like feedback. Have you heard the expression ‘he who pays the piper calls the tune’?

Q. May I pass on a tip to readers? It is famously difficult to find a present for a man. We were going to stay with a male friend and, what with all the talk of prepping, I bought him a top-of-the-range head torch and batteries and he really could not have been more delighted.

– J.R., London W12

A. Thank you for this tip.