Q. Every year I take a house in Cornwall with
a friend for the first week of the school holidays. We have to drive down all the bedding and all the necessary kitchen equipment and food to cater for about ten of us, to say nothing of our dogs and puppies. It would not be possible to do it by train but none of the teenagers coming has passed their driving test and, unfortunately, my friend and I have both been banned from driving. Our husbands are both working that week. We will also need transporting around while we are there. Mary, can you help?
Name withheld, Pewsey, Wilts A. The bans are a blessing in disguise. You can use a tutorial service to fill this need while simultaneously giving yourself and your friend some moral support. Ask the agency for a personable young man with a driving licence, not for straightforward pre-exam tutoring, but to orchestrate evening general knowledge quizzes and book clubs for the teenagers. More to the point he can drive the necessary loads both down to and back from Cornwall and do the pick-ups from Bodmin Parkway. In addition this young man can provide some male authority in the household and throw his weight around with the teenagers and go out looking for them when they do not return by the traditional 2 a.m. curfew (I assume you are going to Polzeath). A residential tutor normally costs £180 a day for four hours work. Obviously the role is less of an academic and more of a Paid Companion position. But if you openly explain your needs to a sophisticated agency such as Bright Young Things Tuition, you may well negotiate an off-peak non-pre-exam deal to satisfy both parties. 02081 339637; brightyoungthingstuition.co.uk.
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