Q. A friend of mine put five Coldplay tickets up for sale on Facebook. They were £80 each and I assumed they must be very good seats. I sent her the money. When they arrived I was surprised to see that they had originally been only £45 each. I made a wry comment to this effect but she expressed no guilt; she just said, ‘I rather hoped a close friend would not buy them — it is a bit of a side business for me.’ Mary, what is your view about this behaviour?
— L.O., London W14
A. It was no surprise that your friend should wish to profiteer: her mistake was not to be straightforward. The correct protocol would have been to warn that she was making a mark-up, rather than letting people assume that the tickets were being passed among friends at cost.
Q. Can you recommend a foolproof system for finding people at unfamiliar and crowded airports? On arrival at Catania in Sicily I waited for 40 minutes before I could locate friends who had been on the same flight and with whom I was sharing a taxi to the same villa. Believe it or not, there are still luddites who do not carry mobiles.
— M.W., Wiltshire
A. Prepare for these annoyances by always travelling with a packet of party balloons and a length of string. Before you set out, write your name on some of the balloons in thick felt-tip. If necessary, you can inflate one and set it hovering over the mob so your friends can identify your whereabouts.
Q. My husband is in a band. They only play small venues, like pubs, and they have all kept their day-jobs, but they have a growing following among people who listen to their witty lyrics.
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