Q. A dinner-party guest rang me three hours before the dinner for ten I was giving as a thank-you to her and her husband to say that as soon as she arrived at my flat, at 8.30, she would have to use my computer to bid for some curtains on eBay. How should I have dissuaded her, Mary?
E.S.W., London W11
A. You could have insisted on sparing her the nuisance of having to undertake this chore. ‘I’ll get a friend’s au pair to come round and sit at the screen for you,’ you could have cooed maternally. ‘She won’t charge more than about £20, but it would be well worth it rather than your having to disrupt the dinner-party and not be able to enjoy it worrying about the nine people waiting for you to come back to join them.’
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