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.
If he complains and asks you to start again with a fresh mixture, you will know that he is not the right person to accompany you on this easygoing cultural trip.
Q. My kind aunt invited us to stay for a week in the sun. Everything was first rate but we felt let down by a local fishing teacher whom she hired through an agency. He was to take out my young son and his friend but he failed to give them a lesson — instead, he just fished himself and told the boys to watch him. They did not like to disappoint my aunt so the boys pretended they had had a great day. We checked the cost of the lesson online and it was an outrageous amount. What should we do?
—Name and address withheld
A.
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