YOUR PROBLEMS SOLVED
Dear Mary.. .
Q. En route to Scotland last week, I stayed overnight with a friend who has a house in the Lake District. My son's nanny, who was travelling with us, was given a rather grand bedroom with four-poster, stiff linen sheets etc-, the changing of which would, I esti- mated, have generated at least £10 in laun- dry costs. Obviously I left some money in mY own room, but should I have given my nanny a tenner to leave in hers?
Uncomfortable, Warwicks A. No I have it on ducal authority that you should not. Your nanny might, however, have approached a member of your host's staff and offered to help with the stripping of the bed linen.
known I am delighted to learn that what was "nown in my day as heavy petting has made a comeback amongst the young. Can you enlighten me as to what expression they use When referring to the practice? CB., Bourton-on-the-Hill 4' Romance-seekers of both sexes will share your relief that full-blown intimacy is no longer demanded as an almost legal right by those with whom they have enjoyed some tentative physical preliminaries.
Instead 'heavy petting', as it was known in the Fifties, has resurged in respectability and even desirability. The young refer to the practice of kissing-and-more as 'having a love-tumble'.
Q. I work in an office where one of the sec- retaries often buys fish and chips for her lunch, and she proceeds to eat this take- away fare at her desk with all the attendant grease, smells and debris — such as batter — dropping between the keys of her word- processor. What can I do to discourage her from eating take-away food at her desk? Were she not a member of a racial minority it would be a simple matter of a memo or a verbal request, but I fear she may accuse me of racial persecution if I bring the sub- ject up. A.Z.deT., Lancaster A. Why not purchase a small piece of fresh fish, or even a single prawn, from your local fishmonger? Wait until your colleague goes home from work, then shred the fish with office scissors into strips of a convenient size to fall through the keys of the word- processor. It will not be long before an engineer needs to be called in to identify the source of the odour and you may use this as an opportunity to ask all members of staff not to eat at their desks.
Q. I have received an invitation by fax to stay for Christmas with a friend and her family. It is extremely kind of her, but I would like to hedge my bets for a bit longer. How can I avoid replying immedi- ately without seeming to be rude? I have a message on my answerphone saying, `Please do not leave a message but send a fax instead to 071-' etc., precisely to avoid being put on the spot like this. However, I feel I should make some sort of reply as I have heard she knows I got the fax.
A. McM., London, .5E11 A. Send back a blank piece of paper. Your fax ID number will appear on the top and you can pretend later that you inserted your reply upside down.
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