Love Letter

 

On a particular HCT round I was doing one week, I was loaded down with parcels - which accumulated as I quite simply could not fit them all into the trolley. Then on the Saturday a colleague was roped in to clear off the surplus. This situation was common knowledge among the management. Yet on this day in question, I got back to find this note left for me, attached to two parcels which had appeared in the meantime from God knows where (presumably having been 'missed' by my colleague).


Denationalization

 

In my opinion, the real impetus for opposing denationalization is enshrined in the (former) Clause 4 of the Labour Party, which implicitly lays down that the holding of the heights of the economy in common ownership is an necessary first step towards building a democracy. Any attempt to introduce democratic reform without this 'first step' will be fairly tame - society will remain dominated by the wealthy

The political situation in this country appears to have gone full circle within one lifetime. In the fifties we had a tranche of three Old Etonian Prime Ministers in a row. The change of government in 1964 appeared at the time to indicate a permanent new direction (I don't mean in reality, I mean in the way it was perceived when we first learnt about it when young).

Denationalization is all part and parcel of this movement back to rule by the wealthy - Old Etonians and all. It suits the economic interests of the wealthy and it further reduces any influence from the rest of the population.

As stated famously by Lenin but probably in reality probably equally attributable to any numer of people: "People who carry out revolutions by halves, dig their own graves". If you just carry out piecemeal nationalization, then it is no surprise at all that if the boot shifts on to the other foot (by, for example, the debiliating effects of mass unemployment for the last forty years plus) then the wealthy will not just restrict themselves to regaineing what had been nationalized but will go much further and grab as much as they can.

Effectively all the means of giving oxygen to ideas are in the hands of the wealthy and events proceed thus : the said mass media put out the idea that nationalized industries are inefficient and/or lose money, and a large propertion of their readers just regurgitate this parrot fashion, with no forethought, no undertsanding and no evidence.

This does lead to contradictions. George Orwell's book 1984 is based solidly on what he calls 'double-think', the ability to have two contradictory viewpoints and agree with both of them simultaneously. And the most obvious example of double-think is the idea that nationalized industries are inefficient but nationalized industries like the armed forces and the police are so totally super-efficient that no-one should even dare criticise them. Contrary to what some people think, 1984 is an attack on capitalism.

Historically the first major privatization occured in Deutschland during the 1930s. Information is (possibly deliberately) scarce. This is some information on this link - if you have more information I would love to hear from you.

Advertising Leaflets

 

These are often referred to as "Door-to-Doors" (D2D). At a recent meeeting with some managers I did try and raise a few points. Their response included the claim that this is a 'green' procedure because a large amount of the leaflets are re-cyclable. This is the type of logic that allows polluters like e.g. BP to describe themselves as 'green'.

Figures for the profitability of D2Ds were quoted but these by themselves are not the whole story. For starters, you need to know how much it costs the government to cart them all away when people throw them in the bin.

And this brings up another important issue - commerical profitability.

Nationaized industries, chapter one, page one, line one : private companies work on commercial profitabilty whereas nationalized industries work on economic profitability. Economic profitability relates to whether the government is actually making a profit or loss out of a particular enterprise.

In practice the only figures ever presented in the media for nationalized industries is their commercial profitability, which is the wrong profitability to consider. This is the main source for the usual old-wives' tales propagated w.r.t. nationalized industries.

Figures quoted for the advantages of D2Ds in comparison with other forms of advertising were ridiculous. By that I mean from the standpoint of statistics.

>>>>>Insert statements on Keynesian economics

Naming of Roads

 

The naming of roads in Britain appears to be un-coordinated and I would be interested to learn whether other countries operate differently

There is a large development going on in Bognor at the moment but already we have problems : there is a new Berryhills competing with a pre-existing Berrymill Close, a new Elbridge Avenue with a pre-existing Elbridge Crescent and, best of all, a new Edwin Close competing with an established Edwen Close (I think there is at least one other example). And this development hasn't even got started yet.

If your road has a similar name to another road within the same postcode area then your chances of no misdirection of mail is most definitely not zero - it becomes an issue of whether these mistakes occur too often or not.

This state of affairs is determined by Murphy's Law. This law is a serious law which has to be acknowledged always, most famously by engineers. This law is definitely not Sod's Law, with which some people confuse it. Sod's law is a joke but Murphy's law is serious - it says that if something can happen, then sooner or later it will happen.

For example, if it is possible for a cross-channel ferry to set sail with its bow doors open causing it to sink, then sooner or later that will happen. Likewise if they chose to design a cargo door for the DC10 that would open in flight unless it was closed properly causing the plane to crash, then sooner or later that's exactly what happened. In these cases, it is pointless castigating staff who might be responsible for these events. They have essentially just fallen into a hole dug by someone else.

I used to deliver to St Richards Drive and the connecting St Richards Way. Problems were not restricted to mail. One of the residents on St Richards Drive told me he came home one day and found half a ton of horse manure in his front garden intended for the same number in St Richards Way.

Memories on developments on Portsmouth transfer

 

Doublethink

 

Running

 

Furthermore, one of the main casualties of the excessive time I have to spend every day traveling to and from work is my interest in long-distance running. I have run several hundred races in the past but in 2012 all I achieved was one single, solitary 8km. cross-country race.


Delivery staff at Bognor Regis Delivery Office, Royal Mail

 

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  • I list here journeys between work and home that

    • take longer than 1 hour 45 minutes
    • or take the normal time of between 1 hour 30 mins - 1 hour 45 mins, but are unpleasant (for example, if I am wet).

    17 September

    Leave work at 1340 and arrive home at 1515 (1h 35m later). The reason for including it here was that it was quite unpleasant - I was already a bit wet, the Bognor train stopped way down the platform at Barnham and the 'waiting' Portsmouth train set off as I ran up the from the subway. Instead of a direct train to Portsmouth, I then had to change trains again at a wet Havant station where rain comes through the roof, all rounded off by a 15 minute walk in the rain from Portsmouth Station.

    7 September

    Leave home at 0530. Trains are cancelled because of tree across tracks. Reach work at 0805 (2h 35m later)

    1 August

    Left work at 13:30, arrived home at 15:25 (1h 55m later)

    14 May

    Left work at 13:34, arrived home at 15:19 (exactly 1h 45m later, according to my reckoning)

    4 May

    Left work at 1300, arrived home at 1445 after managing to fall asleep on the train

    22 April (Monday) On leave the week before - travel into Bognor on the Monday only to find it is my day off.

    22 March

    Leave home at 0540, arrive at work at 0724 (1h 44m later).

    19 March

    Leave home at 0540, arrive at work at 0725 (1h 45m later). Also asked to fill in an employee satisfaction survey, during which I marked 'not valued at all' to the question as to whether I feel valued as an employee. The way they are treating me is tantamount to just telling me to get another job, and you can't get much less valued than that.

    11 March

    Very cold day with snow falling most of the time. Leave work at 1305, arrive home at 1510 (2h 5m later)

    22 January

    Leave home at 0540, arrive in work at 0750 (2h 10m later). Leave work at 1410, arrive home at 1608 (1h 58m later). Total time spent travelling to and from work - 4h 8m. Just to round things off, during the last section (15 minutes walk) had to endure 'very cold' rain.

    21 January

    Leave work at 1505, arrive home at 1719 (2h 14m later).

    18 January

    Because of the snow, we get the choice of going home but losing the appropriate number of hours. Obviously I have no choice lest I get stranded in Bognor : thus losing three hours.

    Leave work at 1032, arrive home at 1222 (1h 50m later).

    12 January

    Very wet day. Leave work at 1312, arrive home at 1440 (1h 28m later)

    2012

    31 December

    Very wet again. Leave Bognor at 1320, arrive home at 1445 (1 h 25 m later).

    22 December

    Very wet again. Left work at 1320 and arrived home at 1443 (1h 23 m later)

    21 December

    Leave home at 05:40 and arrive at work at 0735 (1hr 55m later). Travel home took 1h 31m, giving a total time travelling to and from work of 3h 26m.

    20 December

    Very wet and unpleasant day. Leave work at 15:50. Arrive home at 17:22 (1 hour 32 mins later)

    19 December

    Leave work at 14.45, very wet. Arrive home at 16:09 (1 hours 24 mins later)

    11 December

    Leave work at 13.30. Arrive home at 15:53 (2 hours 23 mins later)

    10 December

    Leave work at 13:02. Arrive home at 14:49 (1h 47 mins later)

    17 November

    Leave home at 0530. Problems straight away when we are informed at Portsmouth about problems with a broken-down train near to Chichester. Have to get off in Havant and wait for 40 minutes for the bus. Arrive in work at 8.00 (2.5 hours after leaving home)

    17 October

    Leave home at 0535. Problems at Barnham due to a broken-down train. Arrive at work at 0735 (2 hours after leaving home)

    1 October

    Leave Bognor at 1500, a bit uncomfortable after quite heavy rain in the morning - my feet were wet. Arrived home at 1652 (1h 52m later).

    29 August

    Leave Bognor at 13.50, quite wet. Arrive home at 15.20 (1h 30m later).

    4 August

    Leave Bognor at 11.24. Arrive home at 13.30 (2h 6m later).

    11 July

    Leave Bognor at 14.33, quite wet. Arrive home at 16.06 (1h 33m later).