Advice
Dear Mary
Q. My husband has always worked extremely hard and now does so from home — so I go to great…
Dear Mary
Q. I was instrumental in finding some much-needed work for a local retired secretary/PA when I recommended her for the…
Dear Mary
Q. Following the birth of our child we were deluged with cards, gifts and money from kind family and friends.…
Dear Mary
Q. My husband and I have two single friends who we believe should be introduced. In days gone by, we…
Dear Mary
From Joanna Lumley Q. We receive a huge number of Christmas cards every year. When I take them all down…
Dear Mary
Q. Unlike my wife, I am tiring of Netflix. Wanting a project to occupy me during these long dark nights,…
Dear Mary
Q. A year ago we sent out 150 save-the-date notices for our wedding this December. We are still going ahead,…
Dear Mary
Q. My husband and I have spent many happy weekends in the seaside cottage of long-standing friends. Knowing how much…
Dear Mary
Q. Some friends persist on displaying our email addresses in large address lists when sending out round robins to all…
Dear Mary
Q. On my way to Devon recently I stopped for lunch with an impeccably mannered friend. He produced first crab…
Dear Mary
Q. How can one politely stop predatory kissers? I am (or was) an affectionate and demonstrative person but I don’t…
Dear Mary
Q. I know it is rude to ask, when invited to a dinner party, ‘who else is coming?’ I assumed,…
Dear Mary
Q. I am arranging the seating plan for my daughter’s wedding and have a problem with one of her guests…
Dear Mary
Q. I see a lot of two of our grandchildren because they live in our London house. We are centrally…
Dear Mary
Q. I am having a drinks party to celebrate the publication of my latest book. I sent out invitations (to…
Dear Mary
Q. When my mother-in-law visits, she puts newspaper on a dining chair before sitting down. I’m so speechless that someone…
Dear Mary: What can we do about our son’s girlfriend’s appalling table manners?
Q. My son has a girlfriend who we like but who has appalling table manners. They come to stay most…
Dear Mary: How do I stop getting lumbered with the washing up on weekends away?
Q. A friend, who is very careful with his money, occasionally invites a group of six to eight out to…
Dear Mary: How do I stop rabbits eating Mum’s graveside flowers?
Q. A difficult couple of our acquaintance always object to other guests at dinner and can be very rude to…
Dear Mary: I can’t put names to faces – and it’s starting to upset friends
Q. I am in my mid-sixties and have started to suffer from nominal aphasia. At a recent wedding in the…
How can I prevent my husband from burning all my post?
If you don’t yet watch Gogglebox on Channel 4, start doing so now. Far from making you despise our couch-potato…
Help over the hump
Losing our way in life’s trackless forest, whither should we turn for solace and advice? Wisdom used to be the…
A bad taste in the mouth
Here is the opening sentence of Karl Ove Knausgaard’s meditation on beds.: With its four legs and its flat, soft…
Seasonal advice from the great and the good
Clare Balding I love a good walk on Boxing Day followed by watching the racing at Kempton. Avoid the internet.…
Not a patch on our own Dear Mary
As Dear Mary so wittily demonstrates, our need for advice is perennial. But fashions change. Mary would probably take issue…
