ThunderDragon Blog

I’m back!

Successfully moved in, with working internet, and coping with the 9-5. And even more Northern than I was previously. I could change the name of the weekly column to the “Even more Northern Monkey speak”, but that requires effort. And it took me long enough to figure out how to log-in with the change of blog design here.

So, I’m going to resume where I left off. With pure randomness. Particularly, weird news stories I’ve heard over the past week.

First of all, the sad tale of Postman pat having a worse than when he ran over his cat (All the fur went flying / Postman Pat was crying / He’d never seen a cat as flat as that)

POSTMAN Pat had to have his nose cut off after a three-year-old boy got stuck in a children’s ride.

The youngster got wedged in the ride at the Focus DIY store on the Pytchley Road Industrial Estate, Kettering, and had to be freed by firefighters.

In his excitement, the boy tried to sit on Postman Pat rather than on the seat next to him yesterday lunchtime. (Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph)

Incredibly, Billy Connolly was right.

When their owners split, pets can develop serious nervous symptoms and have even been known to self-harm, according to vets at the Peoples Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA).
Sean Wensley, senior vet at PDSA, said: “Dogs that are stressed can show signs of compulsive disorder.
“This may include chasing their own tail or excessive licking of one or more limbs. As a result of such licking, the area can become raw and itchy, which in turn leads to further licking or chewing.
“The resulting condition is known as ‘acral lick dermatitis’. ” (The Telegraph)

Pets can self harm? Remember - if you end up having a stressful house, keep knives away from Fido.

~Asp

Adam Boulton has an interesting post on his blog on how MPs communicate with constituents:

Conversation really perked up when one of [the MPs] said he replies to emails from constituents with a “proper” posted letter in an envelope. It turns out that others all did the same…

The MPs felt that constituents felt that their issue was being treated more seriously if they got a typed reply on crested and headed paper…

Of course free postage for MPs may also help to keep the letter alive.

If I send an email, I expect to receive an email in return. If I send a letter, I expect to receive a letter in return. If I make a phone call, I expect to receive a phone call in return if I cannot speak to whoever I am calling there and then.

It’s pretty simple - the mode of communication you use tends to be the one you prefer.

So why are MPs wasting our money on sending letters to us when all we want in reply is a - compeltely free - email? And why are they wasting paper by sending totally unnecessary letters? According to Adam Boulton, because MPs think that constituents see something written on headed parliamentary paper is “treated more seriously” than an email reply.

What a load of bollocks. To start with, we are not little children who are impressed by a pretty picture on heavy paper. And, secondly, in the modern age, emails can be modified just as much to make them look “official”, with crests and everything too!

This is the 21st century. News is 24/7. No longer is a letter a fast, or even nowadays necessarily a secure or reliable service. Email, however, is all of the above and, indeed, allow instant communication between constituent and elected representative. They say they want to listen… well, if they reply by letter to emails, they really don’t seem to want to do so all that much!

Why are the postmen continually striking? Have they not thought through the consequences of their actions? First of all, being a postman is hardly a requiring specific skills much more than map reading a driving a van.

But, primarily, by stopping the mail from being delivered, less people are going to post letters, and instead use new technology. By striking and ensuring that letters aren’t and won’t be delivered, what the postmen are doing is driving more people away from the postbox - or at least from Royal Mail - and massively bringing forward the time when no-one posts a letter any more.

If no-one posts letters, there will be no jobs for postmen.

Change your working practices so that the time until the letter is obsolete in practice as well as in theory is just that little bit long. So get back to work.

[This is my first post by email. I have no idea what it will look like… Made pretty now I'm back home.]

Could Postman Pat get a lie-in every day now?

“Almost two-thirds of homes and businesses will not receive their daily post delivery until the afternoon under plans being considered by Royal Mail.
The proposal, outlined in a consultation paper, could mean the end of the morning post for millions of customers.
Currently, 94.4 per cent of homes and businesses receive their mail before noon, with some deliveries arriving as early as 7am.
But under the new plan, no one would receive anything before 10.30am and 60 per cent would have to wait until after midday.” (The Telegraph)

Royal Mail appear to be on a crusade to destroy the art of the written letter. They already want to cancel Saturday deliveries, and now don’t want to have to have all the day’s post delivered until mid afternoon! This is reprehensible. Even though they are under no legal obligation to deliver all letters until noon, having early morning deliveries keep the postal system alive. Morning deliveries means that important documentation can be received and an entire working days effort put into it.

The plan is to have no deliveries before 10.30am, 10% by 11am, another 10% by 11.30, and 20% more delivered by noon - with the other 60% not delivered until 2.15pm! If they do get to do this, then one thing is certain - stamp prices must come down to match to decrease in the quality of service.

If most post is not to be delivered until past 2pm, then I can see little future for much post. The internet will take over most of the postal traffic, and the entire postal system will die. It is possible to argue that the internet is already hollowing out the postal business, I’m sure, but a significant amount of stuff still travels through it - and if Royal Mail cannot show themselves capable of managing even that properly, the amount that is posted will only decline.

What would Postman Pat say?

UPDATE: In the comments Harry Hook has re-written the intro to Postman Pat:

Postman Pat, Postman Pat,
Postman Pat and the Euro Diktat,
Early in the morning,
That’s just so boring,
3pm and the post is still in his van.

Brilliant!

Source: The Telegraph

Royal Mail could be allowed to cut deliveries to five days a week, rather than the six on which they are currently obliged to deliver post, in the wake of a review by Postcomm, the postal regulator. Royal Mail was allowed to cancel second deliveries three years ago, but taking it any further is a bad idea.

We may be getting a “Rolls-Royce” postal service compared to the rest of Europe, but when they have the word “Royal” in the company name, you pretty much expect that kind of service. Just because others do it doesn’t mean it is a good idea. Would you jump off a cliff just because they all did it?! The universal, six-day, service is essential for the survival of the posted letter. If deliveries were to be reduced to just five days a week, it is inevitable that the decline of the posted letter would increase at a far faster pace.

What would Postman Pat (and his black-and-white cat) say if he knew of the dumbing down of Royal Mail?!

Source: The Telegraph