Q. I have organised a city break to Florence with a particularly easygoing bunch of friends. We have one spare room in the flat that we have hired and a friend of a friend has come forward to suggest himself. Everyone else going is very unqueeny and unfussy but I suspect this man may be a bit of a bore of the sort who complains that wine is corked or that queues are too long.
How can I find out before it is too late and he is already on board and spoiling the fun for the rest of us with his quibbling ways? On the other hand, he is very intelligent and interesting and I may have got him quite wrong.
–A.B., London W8
A. Invite the man to your house and offer him a gin and tonic. Use a pre-opened tonic that you have prepared earlier to make sure it is slightly, though not completely, flat.
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