Dear Mary…
Q. As the author of a number of bestselling books, I am naturally thankful for this success, but one consequence is a deluge of requests to sit on committees, judge awards, champion the voiceless, network for the jobless, and so on. It sounds curmudgeonly and pompous, but the truth is that I now have barely a moment to call my own. How can I therefore refuse the sweetly written request of my ten-year-old godson to come to his school and give a talk on the subject of my latest book? Travelling to and from the school to give the hour-long talk would effectively take up a whole day. I also have four more godchildren who might get wind of the favour bestowed and submit a similar request. What should I do, Mary?
Name and address withheld
A. Write to the dear little chap insisting that it would be many times more interesting and exciting for the class were they to visit you. Invite them to tea at your home, where you can illustrate your talk with all your interesting source material. Suggest that his form mistress contact you directly to arrange a date. You will find that litigation-guard admin difficulties mean the visit is unlikely to come off. If it does, then it is no trouble to serve an oven-load of buttered buns and hand-bought cakes to 30 hungry ten-year-olds while holding forth on the subject of yourself. Indeed it would probably be deeply enjoyable to do so in your own home, and teatime means 90 minutes max.
Q. I was strictly brought up not to talk about money under any circumstances, but the inexorable rise in house prices and the competitive reductions in the costs of package holidays have combined to make money an ‘OK topic’ in the circles in which I largely move, i.e.,
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