Dear Mary: How to cope with London Library overcrowding
Q. As a writer I find working at home too distracting. I am a longstanding member of the London Library…
Dear Mary: How to buy dinner for high net worth individuals
Q. Six months ago I invited some old friends to be my guests at a reunion dinner. We all love…
Dear Mary: How to give a dinner party and still get an early night
Q. I socialise in Shropshire every weekend and regularly give dinners which end at 2 a.m., but it’s a different matter…
Dear Mary: How can I stop friends calling without warning?
Q. I have moved from London to the centre of a historic market town, now becoming famous as a foodie…
Dear Mary: How can I keep my retiring husband out of the house?
Q. For ten years, I have made a reasonable freelance income working from home. During this time my husband has…
Dear Mary: How I can I avoid being invited to any more country house weekends?
Q. Someone I was at university with but hadn’t seen much of over the ten years since invited me to…
Dear Mary
Q. When sending wedding invitations, does one put the full titles on the card, or can one just put, for…
Dear Mary: What can I do to make couples split the bill fairly?
Q. I’m a single bloke now and for various reasons don’t foresee any change to that status. I have moved…
Dear Mary: When is it all right not to bring something to a dinner party?
Q. A wonderful and generous woman invites me, on a regular basis, to dinner parties at her house. What is…
Dear Mary: I know an interior designer socially, but is it acceptable to ask her advice?
Q. A close friend is dating a renowned decorator. Meanwhile, on a limited budget, I am trying to smarten up…
Dear Mary: How can I lie about my age and still use my Senior Railcard?
Q. I was not brought up in England and don’t appear in Who’s Who. This means that there is no…
Dear Mary: How can I stop my elderly host making the bed?
Q. I have regularly stayed with a hospitable friend in London but now hesitate to invite myself. She is seventy-something…
What do you do about a friend who cannot make a request directly?
Q. I have a friend with multiple sclerosis. She lives alone in the countryside. There is no bus service and,…
Dear Mary: How can I stop my neighbour pacing the ceiling?
Q. The woman who lives above me has insomnia and walks around all night. I’m also disturbed by her rather…
Dear Mary: how can I stop my husband from chopping down all our trees?
Q. My husband — currently unemployed — has started ‘sourcing’ logs from our own smallholding. Chopping down perfectly good trees, sawing logs,…
Dear Mary: How can I stop friends staying after a 21st?
Q. A neighbour is hosting a party for his daughter’s 21st birthday. Adequate provision has been made for anyone who…
Dear Mary: Someone told me their extraordinary life story, but I tuned the whole thing out
Q. After a recent dinner I found myself on a two-seater sofa enjoying the restful company of a woman who…
Dear Mary: How will Joan Collins introduce herself now she’s a dame?
Q. We enjoyed the Christmas University Challenge series featuring mature graduates, some of whom were more in the public eye than…
Dear Mary: What can I do about my neighbours’ downmarket recycling?
Q. Since recycling was introduced in our village, the wall at the end of our drive has become the depositing…
Dear Mary solves problems for Jim Broadbent, N.M. Gwynne, Jesse Norman and others
Once again Mary has invited some of her favourite figures in the public eye to submit personal queries for her…
Dear Mary: How do you stop someone wearing leather trousers to work?
Q. My husband employs an ageing rocker in his shop. She is highly efficient, and is an extremely nice woman.…
Dear Mary: Do I really have to take my shoes off indoors?
Q. There has been a marked increase in the number of people who have pristine flooring and are so keen…
Dear Mary: Dealing with your old friends now you’re a big success
Q. Success has come to me in later life with an unfortunate side effect. Since my career has taken off,…
Dear Mary: How to talk to friends whose book you haven’t read
Q. What is the correct thing to say to a writer friend whose book you haven’t read? I buy most…
Dear Mary: How can I stop my future son-in-law saying ‘must of’
Q. My future son-in-law has been successfully house-trained in the use of upper-middle-class English over the years that he has…
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