How could this be possible: a variation on the game of Scrabble, dumbed down for adults? The man who invited me to play poured the tiles on to the table. They were the size of large dominoes. Rather than displaying single letters, each tile presented a common two-letter combination such as “th”, “qu” or “st”. The scoring was crazy too. I spotted that one tile carried the value of 14! When I commented that I would rather play the classic version of the game, my partner pulled out another bag of tiles. This looked more promising. However, I objected strongly when he announced that he would go first, and I insisted that he randomly select a tile from the set, as would I. Usual practice would dictate the order in which we played: whoever selected the tile the closest to the start of the alphabet would enjoy that honour. When, in response, he laid down the King of Diamonds I abandoned any hope of a sensible game.

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I was rich! My great-grandmother’s diamond ring was valued at £1,000,000. Of course, this now meant that it would never grace my finger again.