Hi Everyone
Unbelievable, disgusting, mind blowing, tragic, incredible, scandalous, and ENTIRELY PREDICTABLE. As a young boy at the Fruit, Vegetable, Flower, Game, and Lolly shop I had a friend who lived across the road at the ironmongery shop. He was a year behind me in school and was very often in trouble with his teachers. He was what we would now call a character and Jack the Lad. On leaving school he had a number of jobs until eventually he became a Postmaster working for Royal Mail at a post office a few miles away. This week on one of our main TV channels a story has been recounted about what has been described as the biggest miscarriage of justice in British legal history. It started in 2001, yes now over twenty years ago, when the Post Office, a national institution owned by the government installed a new computer system called Horizon in post offices across the country. Very quickly a number of Postmasters (I use that normal word although many of them were women) had problems with their accounting. In many cases, the perceived discrepancies ran into thousands of pounds many being wrongly prosecuted for theft, fraud, and false accounting. All were made to repay the debts which in one lady's case was over £36,000. The Post Office prosecuted over 900 people resulting in a ruined career, bankruptcy, divorce, prison sentences for 230 of them, and in one case suicide. So now you will be wondering what happened to my friend in all this. Well, our lives took us in different directions so although I knew that he had a post office the first real news about him came when I read the local newspaper headline reporting that had lost his post office and had been accused of theft and fraud. Like many others, I probably thought that he might be guilty of the charges. Sadly, a few years later he died never knowing that he was completely innocent and that he would never receive compensation for himself and his family. It took 18 years for the Post Office in 2019 to admit that there had, all along, been a problem with the computer system. The surviving post employees then took the Post Office to court with the judge awarding them £56 Million pounds compensation but after staggering legal costs only £28 Million was left, just about £20,000 each. Remember the lady who had to pay back £36,000 with many more like her? That lady asked on many occasions what happened to the money she repaid. It was eventually found that all the money paid back was incorporated into the company's profits. Now the whole matter is the subject of a public inquiry that will not report until 2025, but don't hold your breath. I refer you to my first sentence of this Rubbish and if you include my experiences with problems and battles over the years, ENTIRELY PREDICTABLE.
I have never quite seen the point of making New Year's resolutions as I have yet to hear of anyone managing to take them into February never mind the whole of the year. Now, if you are approaching middle age the perspective changes as resolutions change to aims. Our aim this year, apart from surviving it, is to hopefully do the same things as we started the year doing, like writing this Rubbish, looking forward to gardening and growing fresh food for the kitchen, and being part of the local community to help in some small way. The one thing that is predictable this year is that all these things will probably take a little longer to do than last year but the fact that we are still able to do these things and make some contribution is priceless.
This week I walked down the High Street of the nearest small market town to our home for the first time in about three months. Just three months ago the street appeared to be holding its own but now the street is littered with empty shops and To Let signs. Just three national shop chains survive and I would be surprised if two of them survive to the end of this year. That leaves mainly coffee shops, cafes, and charity shops. As I said earlier this was ENTIRELY PREDICTABLE but sadly no one seems to have an answer.
The cartoon above shows the wonderful Calvin and Hobbes, an American strip cartoon created by Bill Watterson. If you have not discovered it, you should, It is funny, witty, and most importantly, a wonderfully insightful commentary on life. Don't forget that when you are laughing along to their exploits you discovered them amongst this Rubbish.
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Just a Thought:
It was my friend's birthday this week, and he received £500 from all the letters he opened. He just loves working for the Post Office.
I got a letter this week addressed to "You Idiot". What bothered me was that the Postman knew where to deliver it.
Calvin: Life is full of surprises but never when you need one.
May all your troubles last as long as your New Year's resolutions.
Brian
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