Dear Mary: How do I deal with my colleague’s revolting perfume?

Q. I work part-time with a lovely girl (aged 27) in a tiny office. She is very nice and not too woke. But she wears cheap scent that has a ghastly, acrid smell and I feel like I’m ingesting poison. Mary, what do I do?

– Name and address withheld

A. Why not borrow a friend’s asthma inhaler and bring it to the office? Make a show of using this and splutter that ‘I was just about to ask you what that divine scent is, but now I fear it may be triggering my allergy…’.

Q. I was widowed last year and I am missing female company very much. In my leisure activities I have many superficial exchanges with ladies of my own age and, from time to time, I feel that I would like to take the acquaintance a little bit further, e.g. theatre, cinema, concert. Can you suggest a subtle way to establish from such an acquaintance whether she is married or otherwise spoken for?

– R.R.,