Advice
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. My brother’s social life has dried up since his divorce (which coincided with the pandemic). So when he received…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. I live in the Hampshire countryside, in a lovely apartment where I have the use of an old walled…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. As if it wasn’t bad enough to overhear one side of a conversation as it’s bellowed into a mobile…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. My partner’s work involves him seeing and talking to people all day, every day. I booked us on to…
Dear Mary: Your problems solved
Q. My husband and I have made friends with two distinguished, although fairly eccentric, writers whose company we thoroughly enjoy.…
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
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. 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: 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. We have had some rather rich Argentines to stay. No one was able to come in to help before…
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. 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…
Dear Mary
Q. I live in a row of town houses with a communal strip of garden in front. Three of the…
Dear Mary
Q. The other night, while hosting a house party, I was one of only three people still chatting by the…
Dear Mary
Q. Last night I went to dinner with people I had never met before. Because the host was a friend…
Dear Mary
Q. My husband and I have started receiving invitations to large summer events scheduled for after 21 June. We have…
Dear Mary
Q. I have just been invited to a wedding where the groom will be the only person I know. Much…
Dear Mary
Q. I have been working (from home) for a TV comedy production company for a year. My job is scouting…
Dear Mary
Q. Recently an old acquaintance, notorious for never penning a ‘thank you’ note, emailed me telling me he was being…
Dear Mary
Q. My mother, aged 87, has taken to forwarding me by email slightly risqué jokes. Her carer is the recipient…
