Mary Killen Mary Killen

Dear Mary | 17 October 2009

Your problems solved

issue 17 October 2009

Q. I recently went to a birthday dinner. The tables were very big and round, meaning that conversation was only really possible with the people sitting on either side of you. The man on my right, however — someone I had never met before — had something very large nesting in the hair of his left nostril. With the best will in the world, I thought I might be sick if I were to turn, as I should have done, and so I hardly talked to him at all. I did not want to be rude and feel very guilty. Mary, how would you have tackled this problem?

R.J., London W11

A. Readers will empathise with your revulsion. Yet the truth is that everyone would prefer to be told, even if it has to be by someone they have just met. You can break the news prettily by sourcing two tissues.

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