Advice
Dear Mary: How do I shake off charity collectors?
Q. A friend, who I love dearly and who comes to stay a lot, has always been unforthcoming with gifts.…
Dear Mary: how do I hide my pregnancy from my boozy friends?
Q. We love having friends to stay at our house in Cornwall. One particular guest has the habit of arriving…
Dear Mary: How do I keep my phone safe on the beach?
Q. My husband and I have just been on a wonderful long weekend abroad to a friend’s 60th birthday. We…
Dear Mary: Help! My teeth are too white
Q. I ride a bike from Chiswick to the City each morning. It is a ten-mile journey that takes 45…
Dear Mary: How do I choose who to sponsor for the London Marathon?
Q. For the past couple of years, many of my sons’ friends have been gamely running the London Marathon for…
High life
Athens With energy bordering on the demonic, I strut around an ancient stadium trying to make up for…
Dear Mary
Q. I have got myself in a pickle. My boss was given a bottle of Louis Roederer Cristal by a…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. I have a hatred of paper napkins – eating outside, they blow away; inside, people drop them on the…
Dear Mary
Q. My brother, who lives in southern France, uses unsavoury words to gain my attention, such as ‘infernal swine’, ‘schweinhund’…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. I shall be spending more time in the company of newer acquaintances in the West Country and would appreciate…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. My parents are abroad for two months and as my flatmates in London are all, like me, working from…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. I have found parties frustrating this month because they have been too crowded. Is there a polite way to…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. In order to raise money for a worthwhile cause, I have agreed to open my garden for the first…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. My wife’s father, who she adored, has died and she is to be his sole beneficiary. She intends to…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. I’m 28 and lucky enough to own a four-bed house in Notting Hill. I let three of the rooms…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. Financially successful friends have kindly invited my husband and me to stay for a week in France. Our problem…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. A great friend is in a terrible state regarding a cat foisted on her by a close relation. She…
