Q. I went to a supper party and sat beside a man who seemed rather pleased with himself. He never once asked me a question about myself, but proceeded to tell me about his children. They seemed to all be super-successful in their fields… hedge-fund manager, top lawyer, etc. The problem was that he had seven, and I found it hard to keep concentrating. Luckily, by the time he was about to tell me about number five, we had to turn for the next course. Mary, what should I have done to have made the conversation less one-sided?
– Name and address withheld
A. You might have halted his flow by enthusing: ‘I’m so glad you’re daring to tell me all this.’ Pause. ‘You see, I too have a hugely successful family but other people really seem to mind one boasting about them – have you not found that? Carry on boasting about yours though – but make sure you leave enough time for me to boast as well.’ When it was your turn, you could have spun the achievements of your own family. This would have brought him up short.
Q. I was recently stranded in Paddington station on a Sunday afternoon as my train was cancelled. I had been planning to upgrade to ‘Weekend First’, which costs only £20 to where I live, but was told at the ticket office I could only do this once I was on the train. This absurd ruling meant that I couldn’t enter the first-class lounge with its free hot drinks and snacks, and had to wait out the two hours on the draughty concourse with the pigeons. What if this happens again, Mary?
– M.W., Pewsey, Wilts
A. To be fair, the station needs to be vigilant, otherwise crooks would swarm into the first-class lounge, pretending they were going to upgrade once on board their train. You can get around this in future by downloading the SeatFrog app. This allows you to bid in an online auction to upgrade your ticket. If you are successful (and your winning bid can even be less than £20), a new first-class barcode is sent to your iPhone. This will permit valid entry to the ‘lounge’.
Q. May I pass on a tip to readers who may be tragically vain, like myself. Glasses put 20 years on me and I only need them for reading. In the past the problem mainly arose in restaurants, where the menu was always a blur and I had to just order the same as the person next to me. However, I now mug up on the menu online before going to the restaurant, and then I can make an apparently decisive choice after ‘looking’ at the menu.
– Name and address withheld
A. Many thanks for this genuinely useful tip.
Write to Dear Mary at dearmary@spectator.co.uk.
Comments