Dear Mary…
Q. As a single person I invite many people over for dinner. Invariably the numbers are not equal, but I go to immense pains to get a mixture of guests who will find each other interesting, and also try to cook something special and delicious. The return invitations are invariably of the ‘take-us-as-you-find-us’ variety (‘Do come over. It’ll be Just Us. I don’t know what I’ll cook — probably pot luck’). To rub salt into the wound, at these suppers I am regaled with stories of the sparkling dinner parties my hosts have recently held, all featuring people who are fascinating but — most important — in couples. One shouldn’t give in order to get something back, but I am beginning to refuse all invitations and to grudge asking people over.
Name withheld, London E14
A. Thank you for highlighting this social injustice of which too many dinner-party-givers are guilty. Their justification is, usually, that there are no presentable single men, so, rather than depress a lady singleton by accentuating her status in a room full of couples, they invite her on her own. This doesn’t excuse the food.
Hosts must take a lead in resolving this inequity. One who has done so with success is a prominent socialiser of my acquaintance. Regularly entertaining without his wife, X has made a feature of baldly declaring that he is having other singles only and inviting only one member of a couple to both dinner and three-day-long houseparties. He does this not for concupiscent purposes but simply in recognition that people like to get away from their partners from time to time and, what’s more, it is convenient for them. It is difficult for both members of a couple to ‘get away’ even just for dinner, especially if they have children.
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