YOUR PROBLEMS SOLVED
Q. What can one do when the person behind the Post Office counter slides the Sheet of stamps one has just bought towards one sticky side down? There must be untold numbers of germs deposited on that little surface by hot hands, old money, 4od goodness knows how many airborne bacilli coughed or sneezed out by people. Yet these days one never seems to see those little circular sponge bowls that used to be a feature of every Post Office.
M.H., Collingbourne Duds 4: Health watchdogs have so far failed to Pick up on this hygiene hazard. Perhaps in the future stamps will be slid across on a C.Bophane surface by law. In the mean- time, I advise that it is preferable to lick the envelope rather than the stamp.
Q. How much can you reasonably be asked to help when staying as a weekend guest With someone? A friend of mine regularly invites me to her parents' house in the Country. She has a very bossy mother who is something of a slave-driver and seems to expect guests to work almost as hard as if they had been hired as staff. They always invite lots of people over for lunch, dinner, etc., and those of us actually staying in the house then have to spend hours gruelling away in the kitchen in preparation and clearing up. I usually end up hiding because if she sees one 'idle' she immediately gives one something to do. How can I politely express my view that there is a limit to the amount of hard labour I want to do during a supposedly relaxing weekend as a guest?
H.J., West Mailing, Kent A. It can be fun to do a little bit of light work in the kitchen, podding peas and drinking wine for example, while chatting to someone who is preparing food. Yet when the boundary is crossed in this way, so that a guest is doing more work than they would have done had they stayed in their own home, then it is not acceptable. After all, it is wearing enough simply being 'good value' conversationally as a house guest. In recent years, fewer and fewer hosts have remained able to pay for sufficient numbers of staff to make their guests' stay entirely leisurely. Some guests, however, manage to reduce their work load by bringing labour- saving foodstuffs as a present for their host- ess. One. prominent countess, for example, always brings a side of smoked salmon, or a set of the new smart goats' cheeses for grilling, made by Innes Thesecan and avail- able from 'poncy' delicatessens. These can be served as savouries instead of a pudding. Alternatively, you can always make a point of continuously holding a log as you go about the house as this gives the impression that you are already doing something to
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