manners
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. 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
Your problems solved
Dear Mary
Q. At a lunch party, I was getting on so well with someone I had not met before. She knew…
Polite reminder
Why rudeness doesn’t pay
Dear Mary
Q. Once restrictions are lifted, our annual walking group has planned a week’s walk with after-walk gatherings in a different…
Dear Mary
Q. We have been invited to a virtual wedding. Is it correct form to send a present?— P.F., Barrow Street,…
Dear Mary
Q. I’ve recently been approached by a very good friend who — with genuinely admirable candour and tact — pointed…
Dear Mary
Q. I am placed in a social dilemma due to a proposed visit on the last weekend of June by…
Dear Mary
Q. Since the relaxation of lockdown, my brother and his wife have started coming to our garden for takeaway meals.…
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. Before Covid, I was staying with friends in the country every other weekend. As a single man living in…
Dear Mary
Q. I hesitate to bring you this problem, but I suspect it is not that uncommon. Early in our very…
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…
