Dear Mary…
Q. I have an etiquette question for you. I came back from Egypt with a stomach bug the other day, was overcome by nausea on my way across Westbourne Grove, and had to choose between vomiting in the gutter or in the litter bin outside Agnes B. I chose the litter bin but have been told that that was wrong/inconsiderate. Can you rule, Mary?
M.W., London W11
A. As the vomiter will be equally humiliated by either course, the point here is to minimise offence to the supporting cast in this mini-drama, so I am sorry to say this means the gutter would have been the better option. It is actually very difficult and unpleasant to try to get sick out of the Kensington and Chelsea bins, as the usual failure to do so attests. It is, by contrast,a lot easier to sluice it down a gutter.
Q. I have taken over editorship of the parish newsletter in our village and have given a column to a neighbour with a keen ear for lively local gossip, much of which she picks up when out walking with her dog and which has been written up to inform and entertain our readers. In the latest issue of the newsletter my columnist mentioned that one of the key houses in the village was for sale. She also gave the asking price (£750,000 for a four-bedroomed house in a Wiltshire village). In my position as editor I have now been upbraided by the owner of said house, who left an outraged message claiming that to mention the price of a house for sale was vulgar beyond description and that my columnist committed a really appalling lapse of taste as well as intruding into her privacy.
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