Are we being lulled into a false sense of springtime? Up here in the Highlands the temperature has recently had maximum temperatures of 8-10C (and I mean PLUS 8-10) the last few days, with an extra bonus of some generous sunshine. It feels odd not having the car heater on and walking without a jacket. I've probably jinxed it now..... the third week in january is far too early to start getting optimistic about the weather.
I seem to have been bombarded by telesales of late. barely a day goes by without some company offering me 'exclusive' advertising, or priority listings, on Google, Yell or Facebook. Usually when they call it is at an inconvenient time, so I interrupt them before they launch into their interminable spiel and I end the call. Today, they timed it perfectly, just as I had finished the lesson and had an hour's gap before the next; so I decided to listen to what they had to say. After fifteen minutes they finally got around to asking me to commit. I politely said that it was an interesting idea (bad move), but I wasn't interested at this time. Strangely, as he became more desperate, offering better deals and dropping the price, I began to get a perverse please from his desperation. After nearly nearly forty minutes I had to put him out of his misery by telling him that I was going to end the call so that I could get to my next lesson.
It is rare to have the luxury of having time to take these calls. It reminded me of when I was a student at the University of Birmingham, living in the Selly Park area. Jehovah's Witnesses were regular callers and, like most people, I would answer the door, say "No thank you", and shut the door. One day - I must have been in a Christian mood - I listened while they went on about The Creation and, being a geology student, I began to question them about the age of the Earth. The more they struggled to answer my questions about the consistency of isotope dating, the time required for light to reach us from distant galaxies, helioseismic dating and the fossil record proving that the Earth (and the universe) is likely to be in excess of four billion years old (the universe considerably more), the more I enjoyed their visit. I would later enjoy further visits from Jehovah's Witnesses when I grilled them about the morality of refusing blood transfusions and the existence of God in a world of genocide and natural disasters. They probably walked away from my door muttering "bloody students".
Like most people, I find my time increasingly precious. So, if you want to sell me something, whether it is advertising, religion, or something else I don't want, I hope you have plenty of time........ because I might be in the mood to waste it.
