Cold calling at 8 in the morning!!! And other stuff.

At eight this morning the house phone rang. I stumbled downstairs to answer it. A quite cultured voice asked me to listen to an announcement: " Those who have debts of under £5000 ...." I have no idea what came next as I put the phone down. This caller made no attempt to identify herself as so many do, presumably in an attempt to make the call seem somehow more personal. It was not a caller with an accent from the Indian subcontinent trying to convince me that his name implausibly was Andrew or Roger or Gordon. They call later in the day as a rule. So why the eight o' clock call? 

I can only assume that this was an attempt to catch workers before they set off for the office - a little late for that or else maybe the caller doesn't know that commuters have to set off early to beat the traffic - or perhaps trying to persuade those of us who no longer have to do the morning journey to work that someone important is calling. In the latter case it works. No-one calls here first thing in the morning unless there is a family emergency. And despite the fact I know that my daughter, the usual early morning emergency person, would call my mobile, I still leap out of bed and stumble down the stairs. 

This morning's call was very likely a pre-recorded message so I couldn't even indulge in the minor pleasure of stringing the caller along for a while. I know several people who do that quite successfully. 

Later in the morning I heard Phil berating another cold caller, asking in quietly indignant tone, "Why are you calling me? You are not supposed to call this number!" Those services which are meant to eliminate such nuisance calls do not seem to be very effective. Such was the start to my day. 

I did not get up at once but went back to bed to warm my feet up and finally went out for my morning run an hour later. 

 The sun was shining and it was no longer chilly but there was still frost on the grass in shady places. It's that time of year again. 

 
By contrast, a friend of mine has been posting on Facebook pictures of her brown knees on Samil beach, Vigo, boasting of the 26 degrees they had yesterday. Pretty good for the start of October. And we thought we were doing quite well here.

As well as Autumn, conference season is in full swing here. Labour had theirs in Manchester recently and the Conservatives have just finished theirs with threats/promises to bring down the benefits bill and cut taxes. The analysts say that some of this, as well as being standard Tory stuff, is an appeal to "Middle England" (whatever that really means) in an attempt to stem flight to UKIP. Whatever it is, they seem to be planning to make life more difficult for a lot of people. 

More cheerfully, well in the first case anyway, I found stories in the news about two Georges. First of all, George Clooney and the new Mrs Clooney, or maybe that should be Amal Alamuddin and the new Mr Alamuddin, have declared their intention to give to charity the huge amount of money paid by scandal mags for their wedding photos. You see, some people don't just want more and more money. 

second George is third in line to the throne here in the UK. A journalist or photographer has been keeping an eye on wee George and his nanny when they go out for walks in the park, trying to get photos of the little chap. A spokeswoman for Kensington Palace said that the duke and duchess want Prince George to lead an “ordinary life” while he is young. I can understand their sentiments. They know he will have all kinds of oddities in his life as heir to that throne but they want his childhood to be hassle free. Good for them. However, how "normal" is it to be taken for walks to the park by your nanny? 

And finally, I found a link to an article about learning languages, something always close to my heart. And for once it doesn't say that you absolutely HAVE to start learning as a child. Lots of sensible tips for those who really want to speak in tongues!