Don’t get me wrong. I love working at home but I wasn’t prepared for the distractions when I first left office life.

Of course I knew there would be lots of things to feed my procrastinating personality but I was thinking of things like endless cups of tea, the sudden need to vacuum (that one was short-lived), and catching up with friends on Facebook.

I didn’t factor in blokes selling fish, people trying to get me to sign up to covenants for charities, or young people selling over-priced dusters ringing my doorbell every day of the week.

Haddock salesmen and charities I can deal with but the duster boys disturb me.  I have no idea what organisation is behind them. Is it a charity? Is it set up to help disadvantaged young men (because they are always male)? Or is it actually a business using dubious methods to sell its products?

I used to fall for it every time because I felt sorry for the waif like boys wandering from door to door with heavy bags of stuff. I used to be taken in by their obviously scripted patter. Exactly as I was supposed to.

However, we’ve had a couple of bad experiences.  One of the boys swore at my partner when he said he didn’t want to buy anything, and I was slightly alarmed by the sales pitch of another who turned up on the doorstep during the day.

“Hi, there! I’ve just recently got out of prison,” he chirped. I believe we all deserve a second chance so I don’t have a problem with that as such. However, I don’t think it’s a particularly good way of marketing yourself.

Imagine how that might intimidate an old person? In fact, I think generally for an old person to open the door to someone selling expensive ironing board covers and yoyos (they so don’t go together do they?) isn’t great.  It's scary enough for old people to open the door to a stranger without being confronted by quite often intimidating looking young guys.

I would love to know who is behind this operation. The name Fagin springs instantly to mind for some reason. Is is something peculiar to the Kingston area? 

So if you know anything about this phenomenon, it would be great to hear from you. Please let me know through the comments box below.