Q. With just a month to go of training as a primary school teacher, I am relieved and excited to have been offered a job. Now it has been a few weeks since I last spoke to one of my good friends in our PGCE cohort. I have many lively stories to tell of weird and wonderful escapades with wild children. However, I feel I should not call her, since I cannot be sure that she has been offered a post.
— J.C.R.R., London SE11
A. Your tact is misplaced and you should call with your news. To be weirdly silent about it suggests your presumption that your fellow student is unlikely to be employed. Do you think Renée Zellweger doesn’t dare ring up Julia Roberts to tell her about her latest part, in case Julia hasn’t got one and would be jealous? It is much more patronising not to ring.
Q. My 22-year-old son wants to invite a gang of friends for the weekend. I know they are bound to come trickling down for breakfast between 11.45 a.m. and 12.45p.m., thus getting in the way of the cooks who are trying to make lunch. It seems inhospitable to say they can’t have coffee or cereal (even if they are just about to tuck into a full Sunday lunch) but I don’t think I can tour the various bedrooms of 22-year-olds nagging them to get up earlier. How can I get them to have finished breakfast by, say, 11 a.m., while still making them feel welcome?
— L.G., Fosbury
A. When showing the youths their quarters on arrival, say in a matter-of-fact way, ‘Now the breakfast kitchen closes at 11 a.m. Would anyone like a wake-up call?’ They will all say yes. Greet those who still miss the deadline with ‘Poor you! You’ve missed breakfast.
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