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Hello, Elle,
I rarely get spam calls, but when I do, I am civil with them, as they are folk trying to earn a living.
But most of my calls are wrong numbers.
They are trying to phone a garage!
Marama rings a wee bell.
I think to Michener, research was his life.
He was part of the team that found the men and women who would crack the Japanese codes during the war.
And he was in the think tanks of several Presidents.
The research he did for "Poland" was very far reaching and he became good friends with the Polish Pope, whose name escapes me.
I am not good at Popes' names.
I had a wee bet that the present Pope would take the name "Gregory", but, no!
I do not suppose the good Lord would take kindly to me gambling on Popes' names!

Hi, Rusty!
Oh, we rarely get wrong numbers, but do get a lot of calls from folk insisting, for instance, that we have been involved in road traffic accidents.
It may be his job, but it is hard to continue to be civil to someone who tells you that he thinks you may just have "forgotten" about your car crash!
Yeah, right....
I usually tell the caller that I am afraid he has been misinformed and curtail the call with a polite "Good day"!
I am very impressed by what you tell you of James Michener.
I had no idea that he moved in such high circles....or that he was so esteemed for his research.
Have you read a biography about him?
I should think that would make interesting reading?
Hey, guess what?
There was a question about Julia Donaldson on Eggheads tonight!

I'm not polite to cold callers. I get at least one such message every day, more on Fridays. They are obtrusive, often wake me up (!) and are never anything to do with what I might want/need. Quite often they are one or other of the common scams -"I'm from Microsoft" . "And I'm the Marquis of Bute. b***** off". What they will do, if you let them, is put malware on your computer and charge megabucks to remove it.
This evening I was asked if my oven needs cleaning. Yesterday it was some kind of share scam.
Oh, and then there are charities I have once contributed to. Crisis at Christmas contacted me for more the following January. I had not given them my phone number and now no longer give it to anyone. When I do mail order I give a false one.
A man (an ex-con, he said) called round with a bag of overpriced cleaning materials. He said I should let him show me some "As a courtesy to me". To get rid of him, I agreed to buy some caustic soda at £7.99 and gave him a tenner. I asked for change; the price had gone up to £9.99. For a product I can get from Poundsavers. I've had a door chain fitted and will no longer even look.

Hello, Elle,
I have had an "accident" call.
I am civil to those, too.
I have read Michener's autobiography.
It is called "The World is My Home" or something like it.
I enjoyed it.
He really values his education.
He was an orphan, brought up by "Mabel" Michener.
Yes, he was highly regarded in Presidential circles.
It was in his biography that I learned about the Pope and the Presidents.
Have a look on Amazon for a review?
Did the Eggheads know Julia?
I like her a lot!

Update, Elle,
Several copies on eBay at £2.80/£2.85.
Cheaper than Amazon.

Hello Rosalind,

I am in total agreement with you - I have tried to be pleasant to them and say that I understood they had a job to do, the only answer I got was the phone being slammed down! Here, we have all sort of telephone calls from folks who want to sell various items of have opinion on this or that, or is my house properly insulated etc..., and as you say, some phone rather early morning as well as latish at night. Hence my unplugging the phone at certain hours of the day and at night.

Quite frankly, in the days of emails, the only reason I have a phone is more for me to phone someone if I need to do so.

Hey, Rusty!
I agree with you that one should always be courteous, but I do try to terminate spam calls quickly if I find them intrusive.
( And I have yet to discover how anyone might "forget" having an accident - unless of course, one suffered from amnesia as a result! )
Now, I have found a copy of James Michener's autobiography on Amazon for 1p.
From SNayler books - a hardback described "As new"!
Have you heard of this company?
Anyway, as I know from past experience that it is not always possible to reproduce the same offers unless one acts promptly......I have bought it!
"Strike while the iron is hot"!
(Where does that phrase come from?)
I still have money in my Amazon account.
Yes, the Eggheads knew Julia!



Ros, it sounds as though you have had very bad experiences with cold calling.
We seldom get them at the door, as our local Council issues households with notices to put in the window if you do not want "cold callers".
By and large this seems to work.
The phone is another matter.
I am always polite but just say no thank you and terminate the call quickly.

I've got the "We do not buy or sell at this door" notice in full view, elle. They take no notice!
I get lots of prerecorded spam phone calls, too. I only have a phone because- don't you have to to get broadband? And if someone is on a different mobile network to yours, it costs them more to phone your mobile.

I do feel much better with the door chain, though.

Hello, Elle!
I am glad you are courteous, Elle; It is not hard to be pleasant to folk, I do not think.
I refuse to be cranky because of a phone call!
Mind you, several days can go by without my phone ringing.
I do not think SNayler is a name I know.
If they sell under the Amazon umbrolly they will be fine, I think.
At a penny...have a go! Oh, you have! Well done!
It is not as long as his novels.
A mere 500 plus pages!
I would think "strike while the iron is hot" will come from a blacksmith's shop, surely?
i had never heard of Jolly Julia until last week, and now I am glad I did!

Update, Elle!
I have just purchased "The World is My Home" on eBay.
One penny cheaper than yours!
From Baham Books.