Dear Mary
Q. Walking at a local beauty spot the other day, I passed a handsome young man. We exchanged a few…
Manners for beginners
Sandi Toksvig, as this book’s cover declares, ‘makes Stephen Fry look like a layabout’. The broadcaster, author, comedian, actress and…
Dear Mary
Q. One of our daughter’s godmothers has given very generous presents but never with any regularity. She was unable to…
Dear Mary
Q. I am no interior decorator, but we have a couple of rather subtle paint colours in the house that…
Dear Mary
Q. One of my oldest and best friends, who has lived up north for years, begged me to let her…
Dear Mary
Q. I spent a week in a house party abroad, with an elderly and extremely polite friend of mine and…
Dear Mary
Q. Is it acceptable to deal with time-critical online business while attending church? Some matters just won’t wait — Glastonbury tickets…
Dear Mary
Q. Towards the end of last year, I began three months of treatment for a knee replacement. During one consultation…
Dear Mary
Q. I am working on becoming a member of the Chipping Norton set. Should I be pronouncing the excellent open-air…
Dear Mary
Q. Some years ago, on holiday in Egypt, we found ourselves in the company of a couple who wanted to…
Dear Mary
Q. What to do when you are an unwilling eavesdropper in a train carriage in which people you know assume…
Dear Mary
Q. In response to correspondence re. wedding gifts: there is no need for a couple to have a list at…
Dear Mary
Q. Is there a polite way of halting a wannabe novelist from reading his oeuvre aloud to an unwilling audience?…
Dear Mary
Q. My boyfriend, an artist, is driving himself and others mad by his inability to keep track of his mobile.…
Dear Mary
Q. To ask for money in lieu of a wedding present (Dear Mary, 3 August) is ghastly, but an established…
Dear Mary
Q. My mainly male colleagues and I were happy to learn that an attractive young woman would be joining the…
Dear Mary
Q. I very recently attended my son’s black-tie leavers’ ball at his school on one of the hottest evenings of…
Dear Mary
Q. I know this seems petty but last year, on our villa holiday, my brother-in-law always took the best chair…
Dear Mary
Q. Regarding the writing of ‘no presents’ on an invitation (Dear Mary, 6 July), my own experience is that many…
dear mary your problems solved
Q. I have far too many friends to be able to invite them all to my forthcoming book launch. How…
Dear Mary
Q. Over the years my close friends locally have been giving each other birthday and Christmas presents. Now, as I…
