Q. I went to a party last weekend and my father asked me to go and introduce myself if I saw a certain woman there. When I saw her I knew from my father’s description (unusual facial features) she was the person and I went to say hello. Embarrassingly she said something like: ‘You are clever, how did you know it was me?’ How should I have handled this?
– S.H., Ludlow, Salop
A. Had she already been in a conversational cluster, you might have replied: ‘My father told me you would be easy to find because you would be the person with most people wanting to talk to you.’ Were she alone you could have asserted: ‘My father said you would be easy to find as you would be the person here with the most charisma.’
Q. We are about to move house and have uncovered an untold number of good books belonging to my husband’s late unmarried aunt. She was a discerning reader (born 1926) and bought all the best writers of her day. She also inherited a number of highly decorative (embossed motifs, intricate spine detailing, etc) Victorian copies of the likes of Adam Bede, The Compleat Angler, etc. Exquisite! We have no room in our new house but it seems that literally no one else wants them. I cannot bring myself to take them to the dump. What do you recommend, Mary?
– B.D., Chagford, Devon
A. As reading matter, books are currently undervalued in junior circles. In senior circles people like yourselves are downsizing and don’t have room. The good news is that books are suddenly fashionable for their aesthetic appeal. Younger clients of decorators are asking for ‘libraries’, and there are now companies online which sell both fiction and non-fiction books ‘by the metre’. Particularly popular are those with decorative spines. They also sell by ‘palette’ (i.e. all red books or all blue) and aim to ‘create shelves with depth and visual drama’. A company such as countryhouselibrary.co.uk will collect and you will even receive a peppercorn payment. At least the books will be stored in a dry place until focus returns. The tide is allegedly on the turn, as top juniors are turning away from screens and will inevitably start opening books again.
Q. A much-loved, well-connected friend knows much riveting gossip but it is hard to shut him up when one wants to speak. He holds his hand up in a stop sign to stop one interrupting. How can I butt in when I have something relevant to say?
– S.T., Derby
A. Simply say the man’s name – this will unnerve him and briefly halt his flow, at which point you can pleasantly interject with your comment, perhaps holding your own hand up in a stop sign as you do so.
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