Ah the wonders of technology! A copy of the manual explaining how you pick up a your messages by calling in to British Telecom’s Robin telephone answering machine has fallen into the hands of the Daily Telegraph’s Peterborough column, which reports that it reads First of all, dail your own telephone number – you will of course be answered by your own announcement; if there are any messages for you, the announcement will be followed by a series of beeps: this is Robin re-winding; there will then be a distinct single beep – at this point remain silent; after a short pause, Robin will beep one – speak aloud continuously into the telephone (it doesn’t matter what you say) – Robin will, after five or six seconds, beep twice; stop speaking and remain silent – seconds later, Robin will beep once and you must start speaking again; stop speaking when you hear another double beep; nearly there this will be followed by another series of beeps and Robin will then play all your messages, finishing with a double beep.