COPIED THIS FROM A MESSAGE BOARD IN ANOTHER ROOM TO MAKE EVERONE AWARE WHEN OPENING THE DOOR

I had a knock on the front door this morning. I wasn't expecting anybody and the dog went crazy...barking his head off etc. I shut him in the lounge and opened the door to see a total stranger standing there. A young man in his early 20's. He held a red carrier bag in one hand and was holding up a "card" in his other hand. I hadn't got my specs on but I could see that the "card" was a bit of card with some writing on it. I made out the word "student" which was in capital letters but I couldn't make out the rest of the small print underneath the title. The card was very un-proffesional looking and had been clad in sellotape in an effort to make it look like it was laminated! There was no photograph of the holder attached. The young man started to talk to me in a foreign language which I didn't understand. I simply told him "no thankyou" and made to shut the door. I noticed a not very pleasant look on his face as I did this and it all made me feel very uncomfortable. I felt "rattled" but I don't know why.....it was just the whole experience I suppose. Anyhow....I carried on about my household chores etc and about an hour later hubby rang me. I related the tale to him and he insisted I ring the police......so I did. I thought that would be the end of it. I related the tale to them so that they would be aware of this person door knocking. I must admit that my own opinions were of an east european man begging for money seeing as he didn't seem to be carrying the normal bulky back sack which contains rubbish to sell to you. I assumed he was trying to get at my "better self" by proclaiming he was a student in our country with no money to support himself. Yeh.....like I would shell out money for his cause!! Anyhow.....I tussled with the guilt thing....did I do the right thing or not? Imagine my surprise then when I got a visit from our local constabulary just a few hours later! They take 3 days to visit you after your house has been robbed.....so I was gobsmacked to find a policeman on my doorstep this afternoon! He was a very nice man and he asked me loads and loads of questions. Many of these questions were asked again and again. I got the feeling that every bit of information I could give might have been important. He told me that he would be "door knocking" tomorrow and would ring me on Sunday to up-date me on his progress. Wow......I am impressed.......is there something I don't know here? Did I do the right thing? Mmmmmm.....looks like I did! The policeman also commented on my tattered and peeling sticker on my front door which proclaims that I don't buy anything on the doorstep. I said that I can't get a new one because they don't do them anymore......so he produced a brand new version which is in bright yellow and clearly tells all doorstep sellers to begger off! I have placed it right at eye level so nobody can claim not to see it.....................and that is my recommendation to everybody. Get yourselves a sticker which firmly proclaims that you will not buy anything from a door knocker. If you are hassled by any of these people all you have to do is point to the sticker and shut the door. In the meanwhile I await to hear what our local police uncover, concerning this young man begging for money. It's not on and my concern is that he might visit the homes of our elderly folk and they might be persuaded to part with their money to support him! I am not holding my breath though concerning our police force......good intentions maybe but as for actually tracking down this fella......I doubt it! Our country is being swamped with people from all over the world wanting to partake of the "goodies" on offer for free. Thats another story though.