Dozens of volunteers help to rescue whales stranded on Busselton Beach on Australia’s western coast. Photograph: Neil Eliot/AP
Do we have an inclination to be kind?
If we have what they now call “emotional intelligence” (aka empathy) we do.
Richard Orlando, Westmount, Quebec, Canada
• Where any inclination leads depends on whether you ascend or descend it. If you want to get to “be kind”, you need to ascend a pretty steep inclination, although not as steep as the inclination that leads to love.
Greg McCarry, Sydney, Australia
• Or are we merely taking the path of least resistance?
Philip Stigger, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
• The hill down into Happy Valley.
Charlie Bamforth, Davis, California, US
• I believe so. The test is to maintain this inclination despite rebuffs.
Elizabeth Keating, Orcemont, France
• Some do, but most easily overcome it.
Pat Phillips, Adelaide, South Australia
• Kind of.
Jim Dewar, Gosford, NSW, Australia
No phone calls in the garden
What is the best, cheapest vacation?
After a well-travelled working life, retirement means enjoying a constant holiday at home. No extra expenditure is involved and it really is the best to have ample time for theatre, music, apiculture, books and relaxing with friends.
Ursula Nixon, Bodalla, NSW, Australia
• Travel is wonderful, but getting there can be frustrating and exhausting. Safer, cheaper and more relaxing is sitting on my own veranda on a sunny day with a glass of wine and a good book.
Joan Dawson, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
• A week in Stopathome perhaps?
Sunil Bajaria, Bromley, UK
• Going into your garden and not answering the phone.
Martin London, Christchurch, New Zealand
• The best of us do Staycation – which is why we’re “Guardian lefties”.
Edward Black, Church Point, NSW, Australia
• The answer could depend on whether by “we” you mean Guardian Weekly readers, or the human race generally.
Lawrie Bradly, Surrey Hills, Victoria, Australia
• To sleep, perchance to dream ...
Noel Bird, Boreen Point, Queensland, Australia
• The best and cheapest vacation is a tour deep in one’s mind.
Eugene Novogrodsky, Brownsville, Texas, US
Please put away those clubs
I love golf but I’m not competitive. What other sport should I take up?
Hang up your clubs and go clubbing.
David Tucker, Halle, Germany
• Watching golf.
Mark Barton, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, US
• Any sport in England is fine.
John Benseman, Auckland, New Zealand
I’m looking at her right now
We all know what’s wrong with the world. What’s right with the world?
The song of a blackbird at the break of day.
Brian Darlow, Christchurch, New Zealand
• She is sitting right across from me.
George Drury, Chicago, Illinois, US
Any answers?
If necessity is the mother of invention, who is the father?
N I Fisher, McMahons Point, NSW, Australia
What trivial behaviour do you enjoy the most?
E Slack, L’Isle Jourdain, France
Send answers to weekly.nandq@theguardian.com or Guardian Weekly, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU, UK
