Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. A long-standing artist friend, whose work now commands high prices, has sent me out of the blue a present…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. My cleaner is industrious and trustworthy but she doesn’t have many people to talk to and evidently looks forward…
Dear Mary
Q. I live alone, happily and remotely, but many miles from my immediate family. My son’s wife has very kindly…
Dear Mary
From Lady Antonia Fraser Q. I enjoy getting readers’ letters, but there is one category I am at a loss…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. My mother-in-law has remarried and now lives in South America. She has a large family with nieces, grandchildren, godchildren,…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. We have moved into a terraced house in a seaside town. Our joy is confined, however, by the fact…
Dear Mary
Q. I belong to a fairly intimate private club which is the one reliable oasis of calm and civility that…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. We have recently installed security cameras in our remote holiday house in the south of France and I was…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. My husband has fallen in love with ‘the country’ and retired to Exmoor while I maintain a presence in…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. I will shortly be attending a major social gathering in London at which I can look forward to seeing…
Dear Mary
Q. Our two daughters often bring friends down for the weekend. These friends are more than welcome; we enjoy their…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. During lockdown I made good friends with a neighbour who I would never have met otherwise. This man lives…
Dear Mary
Q. On a train journey the other day I sat opposite someone I found immensely attractive. We struck up a…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. An acquaintance suggested organising a celebratory dinner in honour of some mutual friends. He asked my husband and me,…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. I have recently become a widow. Since my son is away at university, I had the idea of charging…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. I never lie about my age but I try not to think — or talk — about it. Now…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. I recently attended a wedding which was (for me) quite ‘grand’, with a church ceremony followed by a reception.…
Dear Mary
Q. My granddaughter Jane has been asked on a date to the Wolseley by George (both pseudonyms). Although she finds…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. We have had some rather rich Argentines to stay. No one was able to come in to help before…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. What is the best seating plan when you have a supper party where you are hoping to matchmake two…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. We have two very longstanding and generous-hearted (female) friends. Both have always been overweight, but since Covid they have…
Dear Mary
Q. A very old friend has rented a holiday house and invited my husband and me to stay. The property…
Dear Mary
Q. I’ve just completed a six-month paid internship for a hedge fund manager. I was mostly in his private office…
Dear Mary
Q. Passing Buckingham Palace in a taxi the other day, I saw the ceremonial wing of the Household Division prancing…
Dear Mary
Q. My beloved wife has been studying Chinese metaphysics for 18 months. Our house and garden have been badly neglected…
