Hi Everyone
Surely the title Royal Mail indicates a premium service. During the first world war the postal service was known as The General Post Office and they delivered up to twelve million letters a week usually within a couple of days to our soldiers in Northern France and our sailors at sea. It became Royal Mail in the 1930s. As a sixteen year old at school I was just old enough to be a postman in the 10 days up to Christmas. We started work at 6.45am and rarely finished before 5.00pm in the afternoon. We did two deliveries each day and one on Christmas Day with often two bags of mail, one on each shoulder. We mostly made our own way from the sorting office to the start of our delivery point and after two days of 'training' we were expected to sort and pack our own mail. It was of course long before EMails, Ecards, text messages, zoom etc. so cards and letters were the main way that family and friends were able to stay in touch. At that time there were a lot of Postmen and very few post office vans. Now we have only one delivery each day and in our experience not every day. The cost of a card and letter in 1954 was two and a half pence in old money, that is one penny in our decimalised money. If you apply inflation to that one penny from 1954 to today the cost of a stamp today should be about 25p. The reality is that a second class stamp now costs 75p with a first class stamp costing £1.25. Back in 1954 it seemed to me that there were a lot of Postmen and very few post vehicles. Now, like in many other areas, things have 'progressed' to lots of expensive vehicles, many of which never seem to leave their depot, and not many Postmen and now Postwomen. In addition, we are now told that our not so Royal Mail is losing millions with proposed cuts in delivery days with no doubt a further increase in prices in the future. Perhaps the real problem is that the business is owned and run by our government.
I saw a headline this week that said "Daily habits that can make your life easier". The first one was "Delegate" which of course the Main Contractor uses as a tool every day. Then came "Keep an ongoing to do list". Again there is one permanently prepared and updated for me on a daily, if not hourly basis. Next came "Lay out your clothes the night before" to which I thought why as I am going to make do with what I have worn for the past week unless I spot anything hung on the wardrobe door of course, which I would ignore at my peril. Then came "Tidy up without thinking" which again is second nature for only one of us and you can no doubt guess who. "Get Repetitive" is a good one as I am reminded by the Main Contractor that something needs doing at least five times a day. "Properly fold your clothes" but can you imagine a real man doing that? I will definitely have to try "Keep things that belong together, together" when I can find the second item that goes with the first item. I waded through all thirty, yes thirty, suggestions and realised that only three applied to me, "Eat more slowly", "Read twenty pages a day" and "Just say no".
Some people strive to make the world a better place but sadly some try to change the world to fuel their own egos and personal wealth while making life almost impossible for many. Remember the name Alexei Navalny and especially the thousands of Russian people who bravely attended his funeral this week in Moscow despite the huge police presence and no doubt many surveillance cameras picking out people for later punishment. While many Russians will probably never see his funeral in their Putin controlled media, most of the rest of the world will see Putin for what he really is. Let us all hope that as soon as possible that tiny spark will build into a huge fire.
Just a Thought:
Don't upset your Postman, he knows where you live.
There is freedom of speech in Russia but there is no freedom after speech.
My friend recently started an anarchist political group but he had to give up as nobody would obey the rules.
Brian
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