Frank Faulkner's Top Pet Peeves.

• Overhead lighting. It washes out the drama and ambience.

• People who make introductions with first names only.It’s hostile because there’s no information.

• People who say “At this point in time.” It’s redundant. It’s either “at this point” or “at this time.”

• Going to someone’s house for drinks or dinner and on arrival, seeing no evidence that the hosts were expecting guests—no lights, no fires in the fireplaces, no drinks ready, etcetera. What about trying a little harder?

• People who love to center the dinner party around the host’s or hostess’s preparing the fucking dinner in their kitchen. I don’t like to see the dinner in the making. That’s not informal. It’s just bad hosting. My heart sinks at a dinner party when you’re two hours into the party and you see a plate of raw meat on the way to the grill.

• People who invite people for cocktails and serve only wine.

• Couples who have children, usually late in life, and are so inured with the little brats that they don’t notice them dismantling the house from over their heads.

• Hosts or hostesses who hijack a perfectly pleasant dinner table discussion by clanging on the wine glass to present a topic for general discussion, as if it were a seminar.

• Theme parties of any kind.

• Parlour games of any kind.

• People who sand their floors and polyurethane orange. I like very pale or very dark floors. Never red brown or orange varnish.

• Shelter magazine photos with jumping subjects.

• Shelter magazine photos with barefoot subjects.

To view the article in Berkshire Living, go to: http://berkshirelivingmag.com/blog/category/livingstyle/dress-code/