Q. I have a well-established and generally wonderful cleaning woman whose job, in her view, includes chatting. This was fine in the past when my children were out at school all day but now my 16-year-old son is attending sixth-form college and comes back to work at home between lessons. I have asked my ‘treasure’ to leave him undisturbed at this time but she seems not to take the request seriously. She just goes into the room where he works, sits down on the arm of his chair and chats away. A ‘Do Not Disturb’ notice on the door has had no effect. We do not want to wreck the door by having to have a lock fitted. What do you suggest, Mary? It is so important that he concentrates. How can we stop her without hurting her feelings?
C.J., Oxford
A. You can dispense with the need for a lock to be fitted by using a door wedge, available from any hardware store. Your son can thereby prevent ingress to the room from his side. Lessen the blow by pretending that you yourself have experienced this rejection. When you hear her rattling the door and knocking, say wryly, ‘Good luck to you. I tried that but he won’t let me in. He’s determined to concentrate on his work so he’s rigged up a door wedge to stop us coming in.’ This should deal with the problem.
Q. My parents have gone on to a new British Telecom plan so as to try and cut down on bills. Although we can make all local and national calls free, the problem is that mobiles still cost a lot to ring and my sister, who is at university in Edinburgh, is in a rented flat with no telephone line installed. This means that ringing her costs a fortune and our quarterly bill is about £400. We need to speak to each other for long periods at least once a day but my parents tell me I cannot ring her any more and must write letters or emails instead. For various reasons we cannot use Skype. What can we do?
B.P., Cobham
A. Suggest to your parents that you outwit British Telecom by having a landline installed in your sister’s rented flat. A landline newly installed, rather than resuscitated, costs £122.33 including VAT with a minimum one year’s contract. It will be cheaper if a landline already exists on the premises but just needs to be brought to life. Were your sister to then go on the British Telecom Anytime Unlimited plan (which costs only £16.35 a month including VAT) then you could ring each other free for up to one hour any time of day or night. She must, of course, avoid ringing any mobiles herself. Ring 0800 800 150.
Q. I work by day in communal artists’ studios, the temperature of which is sub-zero and noisy with rats, and everyone is feeling the onslaught of the credit crunch. There seems to be nothing uplifting politically, financially — or even romantically for that matter. With the most sentimental occasion of the year just around the corner, Mary, how can we keep our spirits up?
Name withheld, London W11
A. Cheer everyone up by the simple expedient of buying bunches of mistletoe to hang over every door. This childish method of promoting intimacy and possibly triggering romances has never failed to lift spirits since the tradition of kissing under it was first introduced.
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