Where I can find “the real world” that everyone refers to?
Next to a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
R De Braganza, Kilifi, Kenya
• Look for it where people are struggling for an existence around rubbish dumps.
Rhys Winterburn, Perth, Western Australia
• It’s all around you! The problem is that many people are looking for an ideal world and fail to appreciate the real thing.
Avril Taylor, Dundas, Ontario, Canada
• Pretty much anywhere on the planet that fills you with dismay.
Charlie Bamforth, Davis, California, US
• First, close your devices, including the TV. Second, open your eyes and ears to people: in shops, streets and soup kitchens, and listen to the surprising complaints of the well-off in their restaurants and clubs. Third, open your mind and heart, and look in the mirror: you’re now at the centre of the real world.
John Geffroy, Las Vegas, New Mexico, US
• The real woman’s world is where you work more, for less money, to support the ungrateful, and spend the rest of the time cleaning things.
Henrietta Sushames, Wellington, New Zealand
• Stay where you are. It’s better.
Louis Robertson, Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia
Welcome to the bonus years
What is your pet term for old age?
Same as at boarding school: party time, before lights out.
Marilyn Hamilton, Perth, Western Australia
• Wrinklies.
Wendy Lee, Raglan, New Zealand
• Crumblies.
Peter Reay-Young, Düsseldorf, Germany
• The bonus years.
Jenefer Warwick James, Paddington, NSW, Australia
• A darling dodderer.
Gordon France, Warkworth, New Zealand
• Even older than me!
Maureen Heath, Winchester, UK
• The departure lounge.
Roger Morrell, Perth, Western Australia
• The age of losing things.
Lynne Weinerman, Fort Bragg, California, US
• Would you ask that again, please?
Gillian Shenfield, Sydney, Australia
• My late parents were The Aged Ps. I’m a Golden Oldie and some friends are The Venerables.
Ursula Nixon, Bodalla, NSW, Australia
• Wreckage.
Tijne Schols, The Hague, The Netherlands
• The Here After: when I visit the bedroom and ask “What did I come up here after?”
Anthony Walter, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
• Seasonably matured.
David Isaacs, Sydney, Australia
• Months of Sundays.
Richard Orlando, Westmount, Quebec, Canada
• Decrepitude.
Don Wooten, Rock Island, Illinois, US
They can’t read or count
What customer behavior in supermarkets do you find most irksome?
The one where the customer behind you at the checkout pushes you in the back with their trolley. They seem to think that it makes the person on the cash register move faster.
James Rogers, Wuppertal, Germany
• When someone who can neither read nor count rolls into the 10 Items or Less line with a full load of groceries.
Doreen Forney, Pownal, Vermont, US
Any answers?
Why are some people always late?
John Benseman, Auckland, New Zealand
When is doing the wrong thing to oblige someone actually the right thing to do?
R De Braganza, Kilifi, Kenya
Send answers to weekly.nandq@theguardian.com
