With wedding plans in limbo, not all guests may make cut

friends and relatives, Miss Manners recommends that you send out cancellation notices, expressing the hope of rescheduling, to everyone who is saving the date. This should help with the vendor situation, as well. Although many are offering refunds, it is obviously financially less devastating for them to reschedule if you are able to manage it.

In the meantime, you may want to consider getting legally married, so that you and your fiancé may enjoy the legal privileges now. Many affianced have done online ceremonies that can be broadcast to everyone — and while not a replacement for being there in person, it would be a respite from the current monotony and a way that everyone could be involved.

But then you must wait it out. If it turns out that the small backyard celebration is still attainable later in the year, issue new invitations and ask your previous vendors for refunds — or, where applicable, scaled-down versions of their wares.

You need not explain to people who are not invited to this smaller celebration. As with any small wedding, you may say, if asked, that it was just for a small circle of intimates.

Dear Miss Manners: It is my understanding that when walking on a sidewalk, one should walk on the right side of the path. And now, with the requirement for social distancing, couples or groups should walk single-file when passing others coming in the opposite direction to allow for a 6-foot clearance, if possible. What is the proper response when people either don’t understand this or choose to ignore it? I often find myself stepping off the sidewalk and into the street or a driveway to avoid these people.

Gentle reader: Not having the power to lock people up, etiquette can seldom guarantee that you will change another person’s behavior — only that you will have made every effort short of rudeness or force.

This is why governments get involved in pandemics. Miss Manners assures you that crossing the street to avoid someone, stepping onto a driveway and waiting, or stepping into the street — presuming that you are not putting yourself in even more imminent danger — will make your point.

Dear Miss Manners: We moved to a new house right before shelter-in-place became the new normal. A neighbor and his family stopped by to introduce themselves and graciously gave us a lawnmower (they had bought a new one and had no need for it).

Typically, I would send a thank-you note and bring over baked goods, but I am unsure how to navigate this, given the pandemic. Is just a thank-you note sufficient?

Help! My indecision now has me at two weeks out, and I don’t want to miss my thank-you window.

Gentle reader: First, allow Miss Manners to remind you that such a window is never closed. As you know, letters of thanks should be written immediately upon receipt of a present or favor, but the need to do so never goes away.

(Sorry. She does not mean to scold you, but she is tired of hearing from delinquent graduates and bridal couples who declare it “too late.” The later it is done, the more groveling it requires.)

In your case, it was a neighborly gesture, for which a reciprocal neighborly gesture — those baked goods — would have been better than sending a bought present. Perhaps you could leave them at their door and telephone that you have done so.

of getting soaked, damaged mail when it rains. Bills and important documents are ruined. The USPS is on the delivery person’s back with a stopwatch, counting every half-second, so the delivery person won’t even close the flap on the mail bag to protect the mail because it takes a split-second longer to pull out the mail at each stop. The union will protect the delivery person from the rain, but not the mail. Then they wonder why they can’t compete with the Internet. Stop harassing your people about time and start protecting the mail that keeps you in business!

off that a local news anchor who is working from home continues to keep her dog in the room with her during the live newscast even though he constantly barks. The other two news anchors during the newscast are in the studio and I think the dog barking is disrespectful to them as well as the viewers at home. I am a dog lover and I work from home so I understand how challenging it is, but I would have a family member keep the dog entertained elsewhere while I am on live television, or crate the dog in another room so as to reduce the loud barking and distractions. If she cannot make other arrangements for her dog, she should return to the studio or take leave.

is a public health issue. You are either part of the solution or part of the problem. Please choose accordingly!