A Right Royal Mail Farce

If there's one thing guaranteed to get my dander up, it's poor service. Today, the target of my rage is the Royal Mail who are charged by me with lacking common sense and being intentionally unhelpful. Sorry, but I need to give vent to my anger.
We have been waiting for a couple of parcels. Delivery of both parcels was attempted this morning, but we were both out. Rather than attempting to leave them with a neighbour or leave them somewhere safe such as in our dustbin or 'over the gate', our postman/woman - for I really cannot distinguish which - opted to leave one of their 'something for you' cards. The card clearly states that the items were too large for the letter box so have been returned to our local delivery office where they can now be collected. Now our last postman had no problem finding a safe place for parcels and noting their location on a card and this I found to be a more than satisfactory arrangement, unbroken for the last three years.
I found the card wedged in our letter box at 3pm after returning home from my group and promptly drove the 10 miles to our 'local' delivery office at Holbeach expecting to be able to claim the parcels there. Instead I was told that they were not there for me to collect and that I would have to come back after 10.30 tomorrow morning. Needless to say, I was fuming and as one who suffers with high blood pressure, I opted to storm out rather than argue my case. It would have got me nowhere and frankly anyone who has to be separated from the people they serve by a glass screen, and talk through a tiny gap, is not interested in providing anything resembling a service.
Having allowed my blood pressure to return to a normal level, I have filled in and submitted an on-line complaint form siting a complete lack of common sense and incorrect information which saw me complete a needless 20 mile round trip. I am deceiving myself to expect anything near an apology and wholly expect to have to drive another 20 miles tomorrow to collect my items. Only this time, they had better be there.
I have for a long time suspected that the Royal Mail has put profit before customer service. I'm afraid that this latest example of crass incompetence pretty much confirms my belief.
Hermes, DHL, FedEx, TNT, Yodel = choice.

Boycotting the Post & In Praise of the Kindle

Today, my Royal Mail boycott has begun. I am really not happy at all with the increase in postage cost and I refuse to pay 60p for a 1st Class stamp. If I do need to send anything to anyone, it will be scanned and e-mailed or faxed. The only occasion on which it will be posted will be if there is a a Freepost address or if the postage is prepaid.

I have spent some of this afternoon tinkering with my friend's new Kindle and helping them to connect it to their WiFi. The network settings are hidden away in a sub menu and it took a while to get it all setup. Next came the job of getting a book onto the device. This can be achieved in several ways though in the end we plumped for the USB connection. It is possible to download books on the move using either the WiFi or 3G connectivity.
From what I've seen of it, I'm actually very impressed with the Kindle. There is far more to it than meets the eye including the ability to interface with Facebook and Twitter. E-mails can be sent directly to the device and it also has a web browser. Something else I found very useful is the MP3 compatibility and the ability to listen to music and audio books. Add to this a battery that lasts three months, and you have a very clever device. So, it's all good. What's even better is the fact that I will have my own Kindle very soon. My dear friends have very kindly bought me one and I am absolutely delighted. I will use it for catching up on news whereas my son can use it to help with his reading and my wife can download her favourite books. It will certainly be used and I will write more about it over the coming weeks.

What a difference a day makes... today's weather has been wonderful - the complete opposite to what we had to endure yesterday. Here by the Wash we've had blue skies and bright sunshine for most of the day, and it was mild enough for me to get a lot done in the garden and the conservatory, including planting some more seeds for herb and tomato plants.