Q. On holiday in Greece this summer there was an area of unexpected tension in our house party. As we lay by the pool it seemed that everyone was reading either Wicked! by Jilly Cooper, or A Much Married Man by Nicholas Coleridge, or Title Deeds by Liza Campbell, or The Guynd by Belinda Rathbone. This meant that at no time could you enjoy discussing any of those titles you had read or were reading yourself because, as soon as you started, you would elicit a scream from a neighbour begging you to stop on the grounds that they hadn’t read it yet or hadn’t yet reached the passage you were talking about. Mary, this was frustrating to say the least. It meant stimulating conversation was virtually barred. How could we have managed this better?
A.E., Pewsey, Wilts
A. This situation was clearly intolerable. You should have implemented a firm policy whereby people were required to announce the book they were about to discuss and wait before doing so until those who didn’t want to overhear had blocked their ears with iPod earphones. Incidentally you could also have turned the nuisance to your advantage. You could have used the Book Discussion Alarm as a pretext to require others to block their ears when really you wanted to discuss secrets with a selected few without blabbermouths overhearing.
Q. I am on a Weightwatchers diet which, surprisingly, enables me to eat various fried foods as long as they are fried in One Cal spray. I suspect my cook may be disobeying my orders and carrying on using the ordinary olive oil she brings us from her home village because she thinks it will be more delicious. How can I check without standing over her while she cooks?
S.B., London SW3
A. You can adapt the technique used to catch out children or staff helping themselves from the drinks trolley. Rather than marking the level of the bottle of olive oil at the top, turn it upside down and mark the level at the bottom. Then replace it next to the oven. Check it again immediately after you have consumed your next platter of fried fare and before anything has been cooked for anyone else. Should your suspicions be correct, you will then be able to take your cook aside and give her a serious talking-to.
Q. A friend bought me a gift subscription to a magazine. I like it, and want to continue taking it, but do not want my friend to feel obliged to renew when he gets the usual reminder. Your solution please for a delicate problem which is surely not unique.
C.G., Farnham, Surrey
A. Communicate directly with the subscription department of the magazine. Say that you now wish to become the subscriber and receive all the documentation regarding the subscription yourself. Try to do this before nine months of the subscription has run its course since it is at that point that a magazine begins to send reminders that the time for renewal is coming up. Most decent publications will, like The Spectator, then send a card to your friend thanking him for having introduced you and announcing that you have liked the magazine so much you have taken out your own subscription.
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