Dear Mary: How do I deal with my book club’s dietary requirements?
Q. I live in the Hampshire countryside, in a lovely apartment where I have the use of an old walled…
Dear Mary: How do I stop my husband spying on me?
Q. My husband has developed an irksome habit whenever he goes abroad without me. We have cameras outside the house…
Dear Mary: how can I avoid splitting the bill?
Q. These days I am on a tight budget while many of my friends are still able to spend freely.…
Dear Mary: What’s the etiquette of tipping takeaway delivery drivers?
Q. Rory Sutherland recently wrote about high-end takeaways (Wiki Man, 19 February). In the last London lockdown, I was fortunate…
Dear Mary: How do I stop my new friend leaving me broke?
Q. Recently I started hanging out with a new friend. We are both in our twenties, single, and usually go…
Dear Mary: How do I tell my friends that napkin rings are the height of naff?
Q. Three weeks ago I banged my head on the lower branch of our near neighbours’ tree, which I couldn’t…
Dear Mary: How do I tackle the menace of strangers making mobile calls on speakerphone?
Q. As if it wasn’t bad enough to overhear one side of a conversation as it’s bellowed into a mobile…
Dear Mary: How can we avoid making friends on our cruise?
Q. My partner’s work involves him seeing and talking to people all day, every day. I booked us on to…
Dear Mary: How do we get out of doing our hosts’ cleaning?
Q. My husband and I have made friends with two distinguished, although fairly eccentric, writers whose company we thoroughly enjoy.…
Dear Mary: How can I stop unexpected visitors using my loo?
Q. I treat myself to a manicure every ten days. It’s a 30-minute appointment and the girl I use is…
Dear Mary: Do I have to display my friend’s awful painting?
Q. A long-standing artist friend, whose work now commands high prices, has sent me out of the blue a present…
Dear Mary: How can I get my cleaner to stop complaining?
Q. My cleaner is industrious and trustworthy but she doesn’t have many people to talk to and evidently looks forward…
Dear Mary
Q. I live alone, happily and remotely, but many miles from my immediate family. My son’s wife has very kindly…
Dear Mary, from Matt Hancock: after an eventful year, how should I get in touch with old friends?
From Lady Antonia Fraser Q. I enjoy getting readers’ letters, but there is one category I am at a loss…
Dear Mary: should I force dinner guests to take a lateral flow test?
Q. My mother-in-law has remarried and now lives in South America. She has a large family with nieces, grandchildren, godchildren,…
Dear Mary: How can I stop friends laughing at me for learning another language?
Q. We have moved into a terraced house in a seaside town. Our joy is confined, however, by the fact…
Dear Mary: how can I get out of a Christmas party?
Q. I belong to a fairly intimate private club which is the one reliable oasis of calm and civility that…
Dear Mary: how do I stop guests sitting on my newly plumped sofas?
Q. We have recently installed security cameras in our remote holiday house in the south of France and I was…
Dear Mary: how can I learn to cope with my husband’s mess?
Q. My husband has fallen in love with ‘the country’ and retired to Exmoor while I maintain a presence in…
Dear Mary: How do I politely avoid going to a memorial service?
Q. I will shortly be attending a major social gathering in London at which I can look forward to seeing…
Dear Mary: How do I get my masseuse to stop talking?
Q. Our two daughters often bring friends down for the weekend. These friends are more than welcome; we enjoy their…
Dear Mary: How do I stop a dinner guest double-dipping?
Q. During lockdown I made good friends with a neighbour who I would never have met otherwise. This man lives…
Dear Mary: should I have asked out my rush-hour crush?
Q. On a train journey the other day I sat opposite someone I found immensely attractive. We struck up a…
Dear Mary: Should I pay to charge my electric car at a friend’s house?
Q. An acquaintance suggested organising a celebratory dinner in honour of some mutual friends. He asked my husband and me,…
Dear Mary: How do I get rid of my terrible cleaner?
Q. I have recently become a widow. Since my son is away at university, I had the idea of charging…
