Dear Annie: I am 65-year-old semi-retired female and have met a 68-year-old retired male, “Richard”. My question is, after three months, spending many evenings with him and being physically intimate, I feel he does not treat me the way he did before. Lately, he’s become very cheap.Richard has serious health problems, but drinks every day and his house is a pit. He has a cat he is devoted to and calls her “his wife”. He seems immature for his age. I suspect he has been drinking for a very long time and it has stunted his emotional development.

I have been through two verbally abusive marriages and have had cheap boyfriends previously, but what is it with men over 60? — Confused in South Dakot>Dear Confused: It has nothing to do with men over 60, but that seems to be your dating pool, so you are more likely to find the rotten apples in that barrel. We also don’t know what you mean by “cheap”, but that is beside the point. This man drinks to excess, is a slob, seems to be in love with his cat, and doesn’t treat you as you’d like to be treated. It’s time to move oB>

Dear Annie: <$>I love my yoga classes. However, last week there was a very sick person whose mat was two inches from mine, and she had dirty, wet tissues lying nearby. There was no space to move except out the door, so I made a discreet complaint to my teacher. I hoped he would make an announcement that sick people should stay home, but, in fact, he seemed annoyed with me for mentioning it.A similar thing happened in class yesterday. I don’t want to antagonise anyone. It’s not that I mind speaking up, but I want to be welcome in the class. My only choice seems to be to leave, but I’d hate to do that. What would you recommend? — Trying to Stay Healthy in the Dark DaysYou can arrive early enough to position your mat closer to the wall, minimising your contact with others (or late enough to spot the sick ones and sit elsewhere). You can wash your hands frequently, drink lots of fluids, or as readers have suggested, wear a surgical mask. The bottom line is, if the instructor won’t ask the sneezing, sniffling, coughing people to leave, and the sick ones don’t have the courtesy to stay away, your choice is to put up with it or find another class.

Dear Ann <$>I have to respond to “Only Want The Truth”, whose husband was a pathological liar. My husband tells people he graduated medical school, that he was in the Olympics and that he runs marathons (all lies). My husband is a wealthy, self-made man. He has no reason to lie, yet he would never admit he fabricates. When I lovingly discuss these things with him, he accuses me of trying to demean him.

It’s hard to sit still while your husband tells people these whoppers. I even think he believes his stories. He once offered help on an airline flight when they called for a doctor. I told him, “You no longer have malpractice insurance, so let someone else help.” It is tragic to have such a need to make up a past when there is no need to do it. My husband is an amazing man in real life.

“Only Wants the Truth” might just have to deal with this and suffer inside. A friend of mine recently lost her husband. He told us he was in the CIA, was a POW in Vietnam, etc. When he was ill and she tried to get GI benefits, she found out he had made it all up. At least I know my husband is a liar and won’t be surprised later. — Pinocchio’sfe<$>Dear Wife: We shudder to think of the harm your husband might have done by passing himself off as a doctor. Better the devil you know.