Problems
Dear Mary: how can I point out a friend’s unsightly nose hair?
Q. I’m the author of 14 books, mostly historical fiction but a few children’s books, all published by a major…
Dear Mary: how can I relax about the clothes moths in my home?
Q. Having previously lived in the country in a field with my nearest neighbour not even visible, I recently moved…
Dear Mary: how can I tell young people to pipe down at dinner parties?
Q. I find that when I go to mixed-age dinner parties the young all seem to be shouting. How can…
Dear Mary: How do I stop my husband falling asleep at the theatre?
Q. At the age of 50 my brother-in-law has discovered a talent for acting and singing. He has joined a…
Dear Mary: how can I stop guests waking too early?
Q. I meet a very old and dear friend for lunch on a regular basis. We meet at a lovely…
Dear Mary: How do I avoid my neighbours on holiday?
Q. We have some neighbours who we don’t mind at all – they are perfectly nice, just not part of…
Dear Mary: how can I deter the creep at my pub quiz?
Q. I have been pitched into a social dilemma regarding Glyndebourne, which I live near to but don’t go to…
Dear Mary: is it rude to listen to sport at a wedding?
Q. We live in the countryside, where the door is always open. Last week when it was sunny we had…
Dear Mary: can you leave a party without saying goodbye?
Q. Often at parties strangers bear down on me looking excited and are then offended when I don’t recognise them.…
Dear Mary: how to rumble a snooper
Q. I like and get on well with my sister-in-law. My problem is that she is incredibly nosy and I…
Dear Mary: how can I safeguard my feminist principles at dinner?
Q. My husband and I will shortly be having some South American friends to stay. They come most years and…
Dear Mary: how do I dodge a party to avoid an undesirable guest?
Q. I am on a long, jam-packed and much disrupted train journey to Scotland. In the carriage someone is working…
Dear Mary: how do I stop my book club banging on about their grandchildren?
Q. At the Ludlow Piano Festival, during a Tyler Hay concert, my husband and I spotted a fascinating-looking couple who…
Dear Mary: what should I do if a fellow passenger is reading porn?
Q. On a recent short-haul flight, I had the misfortune to be seated next to a much older man who…
Dear Mary: how can I help pay for an expensive lunch without seeming rude?
Q. My husband and I (both in our eighties) recently visited a carpet shop with a view to replacing the…
Dear Mary: how can I get restaurants to turn off loud music?
Q. My husband never wants to go out to lunch on a day when he could be gardening but he…
Dear Mary: should I encourage guests to strip their beds?
Q. Our son, 17, who is generally a credit to us, has started eating with his mouth open. It’s 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…
