5 APRIL 2003, Page 63

Q. This may seem a very self-indulgent thing to write

in about, but when I was lying in the sun last week I couldn't get comfortable because the arm of my sunglasses seemed to be driving into the side of my face whenever! tried to nod off on the sun-lounger. It was too bright to try to nod off without sunglasses. It has been so long since we had any good weather in this country that! have quite forgotten how to sunbathe. What do the rich and famous do about this problem, Mary?

S.G., East Chisenbury, Wiltshire A. If someone is considering nodding off during sunbathing, it makes much more sense to remove sunglasses and don an airline eye mask, ideally one of the silk ones given out in business or first class, or sold at airports. In this way you will have no discomfort from jabbing sun glass arms, and you will also screen off the sunlight almost more efficiently than you would do with even the darkest of sunglass lenses.