Dear Mary: How do I train my husband not to shout for me from far-flung rooms?

Q. My former cleaner has now retired and lives nearby. I visit her with clockwork regularity and always enjoy seeing her, but the problem is that although we may have just been chatting and laughing or sitting in companionable silence, as soon as I say I must go, she chooses that moment to open a sort of conversational Pandora’s Box, e.g. to communicate some bad or worrying news. Suddenly I can’t leave but must sit down again and talk for another half hour. How can I make her tell me these things at the beginning of my visits, when she always greets me saying she’s really well and everything’s fine?
— C.C., Bristol

A. This syndrome is familiar to GPs, as many patients only admit their true worries when, having been reassured about a mosquito bite, they turn at the surgery door to mention that, by the way, their tongue has turned blue and is that normal? They need time to build up the courage to ask.