Annoying Phone Calls

I'm sitting at home, either writing or attempting to write, or I'm reading or watching television. The telephone rings. As it is, we don't get many telephone calls. I go to answer it. Sometimes there's nobody on the end of the line. I say 'hello' or 'yes' when I answer, but when it's just nothing, or if it is anything, it's just a strange electrical 'burr' noise or a sort of humming sound. What is the point? If it's a cold call, for P.P.I. (payment protection insurance. They will say you could be owed thousands of pounds. But that's another story.) Or they say that your Windows computer is at risk. It needs up-dating or something. Which is crazy as this is a Macintosh. They will speak in an incoherent foreign accent and say they're from the Microsoft something-or-other. Which I know full well is a lie. It's a scam. I do watch television consumer programmes which often mention such scams. They think you'll hand over your bank details and believe every word they say. I'm not that stupid, thanks all the same.

The other week I got a telephone call telling me I could claim thousands of pounds for an injury I received after our car accident. I tell them I haven't had a car accident. They say we put in an insurance claim for the damage that was done to the car when we ran into a pot-hole almost exactly a year ago. I say that was correct. I just don't like this and ask how on earth they got our details. It must have been passed on to another 'body' who are little more than sort of ambulance-chasers. I wasn't injured in the incident with the pot-hole. It set off an alarm in the car which had something to do with the E.S.P. (Electronic Stability Programme) and we didn't get repaired for a long time because it was going to cost £350 for the excess on the insurance. Anyway, they said to me that I could claim quite a hefty amount, well in excess of £1000. As I was a passenger in the car. I told them I didn't receive any sort of injury. Perhaps it was rather a nasty jolt, but I wasn't hurt in any way. Did I need any sort of treatment? Did I take paracetamol or any other medication for my injury? Up to six weeks or more after the accident? I told them, no, I didn't. I wasn't convinced that this was real, I was concerned that the whole thing was a scam, so they said they'd ring back to confirm this. They continued to attempt to get me to virtually lie so I could claim the compensation I was owed. But I wasn't convinced. I had most definitely had not been injured during the incident (I wouldn't call it an 'accident' as no other vehicle was involved. The car was damaged and we eventually got the thing repaired, which was back in November.) I wouldn't lie to get any sort of compensation as I wasn't injured. So I wound up the conversation and ended the call. I am now more than ever convinced that they wanted me to tell a lie and get the money so that someone got a cut of the insurance claim, possibly a solicitor or other legal institution. If that is really the case, it's disgraceful that there are people 'out there' who are quite happy to let people lie for them just so they can line their own pockets. In the end all it is doing is putting the cost of insurance premiums up quite considerably.

On a slightly different subject, the MacBook Air has decided to open. Why on earth it has been playing silly games with me I have no idea. I think it may be something to do with the battery, but I'm not sure. It does seem to get quite hot as it charges. This means that I can get on with transferring my writing to word processing. I have learnt to keep saving what I've written onto the external hard drive which I have. I'm not going to loose all that work because of some sort of technical glitch.