The cold spell continues, or the warm spell has ended, depending on your meteorological philosophy. The sun was hiding demurely behind clouds and the temperature (for those of you that like numbers) was around 12° C (54° F) with a “feels like” value a couple of degrees cooler.

We did not feel inclined to tarry and so, just to show willing, took a turn around Myddelton Square (the name should be familiar to you by now!). As we went round we spied an open window where two cats were taking the air.

Cats at the window

I have the impression, though I could be wrong, of course, that these are indoor cats. Something about their demeanour and the cleanliness of their fur suggests it. Either way, they are a handsome pair of moggies and everybody likes cat pictures. Don’t they?

We carried on round the square to our usual destination, the deli. The conversation there was about the coolness of the weather but what really clinched it was the trousers.

One of the two chaps who run the shop always – as in always – wears shorts as he works behind the scenes and stocks the shelves. Not today, though: today he was wearing trousers. No further proof needed!

The doorbell rang this morning and as I was expecting a delivery, I buzzed the house door, expecting the delivery person to toss the package inside as they usually do. However, when I went out into the hall, I found a young woman with a clipboard. She flashed a badge at me and claimed to be from the local Council.

She said that they needed to do a security check on the front door of our flat and would call to do this tomorow and again on Friday. She was tidily dressed and polite and spoke with a slight accent, suggestive of East European. Not having my reading specs, I didn’t get a good look at her badge but did notice that it did not have the word “Islington” written in large letters on it as council badges do. On the spur of the moment, however, I agreed to the proposed visit.

Talking it over with Tigger afterwards, I began to feel suspicious. For one thing, she spoke only to us and did not contact any of the other three flats. Why check only our door? For another, it seemed odd that the council would carry out “checks” during lockdown when only necessary repairs and breakdowns are being attended to.

I decided to call the Council to see whether they had any knowledge of security checks being carried out. I had to wait a long time for someone to respond, listening in the meantime to information bulletins of no interest. When a customer servioce person replied, he said that he would put me on hold while he consulted a colleague. After another long wait, he told me that he had not been able to speak to his colleague and proposed to put me through to Housing. When the automatic voice at Housing replied, giving me s list of numbers to press, none of these produced any result. I kept coming back to the same automatic response.

In frustration, I called the Council number again and this time was answered fairly quickly and, happily, by the same person. He told me that in the meantime he had heard back from his colleague and that they had no knowledge of any “security checks” being carried out. He advised me to call the police on 101.

I called 101 and spoke to an officer who listened to my story and took down my details. He also put me on hold while consulting a colleague. When he returned, it was to say that tomorrow I must not admit the callers but should dial 999. The police, he said, would recognize my number and access today’s report.

So, here I am, wondering how, exactly, to respond to a caller or callers tomorrow. Should I simply not open the door but dial 999? The problem with that is tthat I am expecting an important delivery and I don’t want to miss it. I think I shall have to confront that the possibly criminal caller or callers and say that I cannot admit them and that we are calling 999 as instructed by the police. How will that turn out? I will let you know tomorrow!