Q. My best friend is widely admired by those few men who have the opportunity to meet her. She wants a boyfriend but her work brings her into contact with virtually no single heterosexual men and she has exhausted the potential in our social circle. Her brother and I want her to change her job so she comes into contact with more single men, but she is understandably reluctant to move away from her current office which offers idyllic surroundings in which to work, not least because she is allowed to bring her dog in. We are keen for her to try speed-dating but she has turned her nose up at this saying, ‘only desperate people do speed-dating’. The clock is ticking and we feel the situation is desperate. How can we steer this adorable but stubborn beauty towards taking a long view?
Name and address withheld
A. There is, of course, a ‘postcode lottery’ but the human specimens presenting themselves at certain speed-dating events have been recently found superior to expectations. Why not attend some sessions yourself and assess potential suitors by proxy? Were your friend’s brother to accompany you, the dual eye-witness findings would be most helpful. They might go a long way to removing the prejudicial barriers which hamper your friend’s quest for love and persuading her to go and see for herself.
Q. We have old friends in the North Riding of Yorkshire. We love going to stay with them in their charming and rambling old house, but we are soft southerners and Yorkshire seems to be freezing all year round. There is a reasonably warm conservatory we huddle in during the day but even in high summer last year it was so cold that birthday cards would not stand up because of the damp in the house and we could see our breath in our bedroom where my husband resorted to sleeping with a tea-cosy on his head. What do you recommend? Our friends don’t mind us complaining about the cold but, for financial reasons, they would take a dim view if we brought our own blow fires and plugged them in.
V.S., London W11
A. Bring sleeping bags as part of your luggage. Use these as internal envelopes to supplement your bedding. It sounds as though your friends would not even mind your using them when lolling about downstairs. Meanwhile deep heat patches as used by rheumatics and available from all chemists can be adhered to your clothing to give a good seven hours back-up heat.
Q. My husband has recently been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and now has to eat at seven o’clock in order to maintain his blood sugar level. Help, Mary, what should we do about having dinner with Top People?
J.F., London SW12
A. Either your husband eats at seven and then toys with an undressed salad in the presence of the Top People or you spearhead a new trend of eating at seven. The reality is that many people secretly long for an excuse to eat at seven themselves. They are ravenously hungry from five o’clock onwards and relish the thought of being in bed by ten. Only fashionable expectations prevent them from doing this. You will find these people only too eager to comply with your request.
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