Dear Mary…
Q. At a party recently we reconnected with a couple we had not seen for a few years. We agreed to have dinner soon, and duly invited them. They then had us back, and we were happy to have re-established the relationship. When we next invited them for dinner, they accepted enthusiastically, saying that they would love to come provided that they did not take a spontaneous holiday. So I sent them a postcard reminder and went on holiday for three weeks. When I returned, having heard nothing to the contrary, I expected them to show up, which they did not. One of our guests said that she had seen Mrs X not three days before and they had said to each other, ‘See you Friday night.’ Fellow guests said that they might have thought the invitation was for a big ‘stand-up’ affair and that they wouldn’t be missed.
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