Dear Mary | 1 January 1970

Q. The person with whom I used to march, before he had to sell up, is hostile to my plan to allow wind turbines on my land. He still lives nearby and his view will be affected. He is utterly opposed on environmental grounds — the noise, the despoilation of the skyline, the fact that wind turbines do not actually save energy but just allow boxes to be ticked… I agree with him on all counts but unfortunately I am not in a financial position to resist a life-changing sum of money for doing nothing. We have been friends all our lives, and our parents and grandparents before us. Mary, how can I mend fences?
—Name and address withheld.

A. It would not be illogical for you take the view that it is probably only a matter of time before wind turbines are discredited and you will be allowed to dismantle them. Discuss this with your neighbour and your belief that, before they are discredited, cash-poor landowners should take advantage of the inflated pay-outs being offered. Meanwhile, in recognition of his historic links with your land, you want to award him a sum, to be annually reviewed, to make the intrusion bearable. The sum, though commensurate with his own smaller-time status, should also be ‘life-changing’.

Q. A former girlfriend came up to me in an art gallery the other day. She seemed mortally offended by my failure to know who she was — as if this was confirmation that she had passed some sort of sell-by date. Yet she looked wonderful — just different, obviously, at 60, from the way she looked 25 years ago. I have been abroad for some years. How should I conduct myself when this sort of thing happens again — as it certainly will?
—A.