Q. When we have people to stay for the weekend, each uses, I calculate, about 14 drinking receptacles a day: a glass at breakfast, one before both lunch and dinner and three at the table, plus five coffee or tea cups. There are five in my family and we often have ten people staying, so we wash up as many as 210 receptacles per day. We have two dish-washing machines but still can’t cope. What do you suggest?
— A.E., Pewsey, Wiltshire
A. Largesse at this level indicates the need for a third machine in your collection, namely a Bar Aid 500S glass-washer. You can buy one from Hansens at 306 Fulham Road, London SW10 for £2,340 plus VAT. It delivers 1,500 sparkling clean glasses per hour with a choice of 90- or 120-second cycles, while using only 2.5 litres of water per cycle (www.hansens.co.uk).
Q. Our cleaner has been with us for 26 years and has always been very chatty, but much more so in recent years — often recounting her anecdotes in ‘real time’. This is all very well but now we need to have another bathroom installed on the top floor. The plumbers will be paid a whopping hourly rate and my cleaner will hold up their progress by asking them all about themselves and showing them photo albums of her extended family. How can I stop her from talking to them without causing a major breakdown in our relationship?
—Name and address withheld
A. Simply employ Polish plumbers, briefing them in advance so they can pretend that they do not speak good enough English for chatting purposes.
Q. Coming across an old Spectator, dated 23 June 2001, I see that you gave faulty information when asked to supply the correct pronunciation of Ascot.
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