Q. I own a small, somewhat shabby and antiquated but well-located flat in central London which I have been happy to lend out to friends as I wasn’t using it much myself. No one was there during lockdown but four separate people stayed for various lengths of time just before. No one paid to stay there and I wouldn’t have wanted them to, but arriving there myself this week, for the first time this year, I found a vital piece of equipment broken — the glass jug of the ancient coffee machine. It’s not the cost (and difficulty) of replacement which annoys me, but the thought that one of my friends could be so inconsiderate as not to tell me either that they had broken it, or that it was already broken. It’s no fun not being able to make coffee when you need some. How can I find out who did it without offending the ones who did not?
— R.P., Norwich
A. Ring the friends in the date order of their staying. Say to each in turn: ‘I’m just back in the flat for the first time and I’m ringing to thank you for having left that cash to pay for the replacement for the coffee machine. You shouldn’t have.’ Innocent parties will reply: ‘Oh, it wasn’t broken when we were there.’ Guilty parties will hesitate before replying: ‘Actually we didn’t leave any money. We meant to buy you a replacement but didn’t get round to it — what with lockdown and everything.’
Q. Reasonably good (much older) friends have a large and impressive garden which in the past they were always keen to show off. It would make a useful pitstop for my husband and me on a forthcoming journey — we wouldn’t ask to go inside — but we have heard our friends have become rather phobic.
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