Tag Archives: post

In the Post

The day started with two emails from potential customers asking if items ordered today would be delivered by Christmas. I don’t know. I can, as I said, get them in the post today, but the rest is down to Royal Mail. They are generally very good, but if my life depended on them I’d be worried. They can, as recent events have shown, be erratic, and not very good at addressing complaints.

Last posting date for 2nd Class Mail is Monday 18th December, so in theory anything posted up until Monday will be delivered for Christmas. In most cases this will work, sometimes it doesn’t, and I don’t want an argument with a customer about whether I said they could have a parcel before Christmas. I don’t want to be the man who broke Christmas.

One of them ordered. The other didn’t. I hope it goes well. However, both items have been on eBay for months and there is no reason they could not hve ordered last week if time was important. I am, of course, too tactful to say this.

I got my Christmas cards in the post today, so I’m hoping they will be there before Christmas.

Stamps, stamps, stamps…

We also had a series of emails from a foreign gent, the penultimate one being “Why you not answer?” Well, I don’t know about you, but I pack up at the end of the day and do not spend the time between 7pm and 7am sending endless replies to a man who is making low offers on things. I merely said that we are happy to answer but he won’t get one after we close. As for his offers, when the owner is back tomorrow we will sort out a price.

That was about it. I am now home and have done my post for the day.

We had a package this morning. DHL was supposed to let us know when it was arriving. It did so at 07.14 this morning. I didn’t get the message as it was an email and I don’t do emails on the phone. At 07.28 there was a knock on the door, a relieved looking delivery driver.

“I’m glad you’re up,” he said, “I’ve been waking people up this morning.”

It’s an ever-present risk, I suppose, when you deliver at that time of day and only give 14 minutes warning. I’d been expecting it a day in advance so we could make arrangements to be in. I’m not fond of delivery companies.

Edward Lear Stamps (1988)

More Time Passes

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It is getting colder and I am wearing more layers. As we move into December I have to remind myself that it is only 15 days until the shortest day. I like the idea of more daylight, and the year starting to turn towards spring already. I am less keen on the thought of my life rushing by. It is now only five days until I have to inject myself again, and I need to organise two blood tests. I just hope that I don’t run out of blood.

Casting an eye over various things, I noted a BBC podcast titled “Why do we procrastinate?” I’ve made a mental note to go back and read it when I have time. There is so much interesting stuff available on the internet that it is hard to keep up.

We have frost forecast for the coming week, but so far it has been very mild. This is probably a surprise to those of you living in cold places, as we rattle on about winter so much in UK but rarely have much real winter weather. I have never, for instance, felt the need to wear snow shoes when going about my normal business in winter, or to use a snow blower. Mostly we sprinkle a bit of salt about and walk carefully. Photographs from a few years ago show frost, but I haven’t had to clear my windscreen yet, though this may change.

It’s getting close to Christmas, and with more Post Office strikes coming, I really must send the cards, as all the final delivery dates have been rescheduled. I am starting to worry about the future of our postal service. The constant strikes, on top of the reduced service levels suffered since Covid, are very wearing, particularly as prices keep rising as service levels decline. eBay is already starting to recommend alternatives, which is worrying when you consider how much Royal Mail depends on eBay business. I wonder how long it will be before we see a catastrophic change in UK postal services. You can send emails instead of letters, and use other delivery services for parcels, but what about Christmas? Emails are not an acceptable substitute for Christmas cards.

Day 101

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And the decision is . . . that I will make a decision later. I want to get this written before I go to the Numismatic Society and decision making will only delay it.. The talk is History’s Great Names in Coins. It is, according to the speaker going to be “a bit different” and “interactive”. This could go either way. If it’s ground-breakingly brilliant I will come straight back and tell you. If it isn’t, I’ll eat my tea first and then tell you.

To be honest, I don’t generally favour new things, so it’s unlikely my evening meal will be delayed. However, we do have a member who tends to start ranting in a disconnected way halfway through most talks and it will be fun to see how he takes it. It is, as we are often told, wicked to mock the afflicted, so I won’t. On the other hand you can’t blame me for wondering what is going to happen. Will he be engrossed? Or will he be provoked into louder than usual ranting?

A letter arrived for me today. It has taken five weeks to get from the USA to Nottingham and is actually two days quicker than forecast. It seems like a long time. I won’t say anything derogatory about the US Mail system, because it’s generally not too bad and I’m sure it has problems that ours doesn’t, such as long distances, bad weather and bears. These, of course, are all minor inconveniences compared to the challenges faced by the Pony Express and the early Air Mail pilots.

Day 56

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I miss out so much with these short excerpts of my day. It’s not usually deliberate, it’s just that when I sit down I find it hard to locate more than one or two ideas. This, I suppose, is lack of the lack of concentration I keep complaining about.

We have had two problems with Germany this week. Two customers bought off eBay. They paid the tax to eBay. We did all the documentation and sent the stuff off. Both customers complained that they had to pay additional tax. We don’t know why, we can’t find any reason for it and we have no control over it. It’s just another racket designed to make life difficult for us all. As someone wrote on a website I used when searching for answers – thanks to everyone who voted for Brexit and welcome to the Brave New World.

It’s cost us several hours of admin time so far and will cost us actual money in a while as the second customer decided to send the goods back rather than accept them. He is currently spinning us a story about having covid and being unable to leave the house to collect the package.

I’m giving him a day to stew and then I’m going to write expressing my sympathy about his illness. I will then explain that although he may be friendless he can always email to ask for delivery, and even if he can’t do that, letters are not returned immediately so he will have plenty of time to be ill and still be allowed out in time to pick up his package.

Let’s see what he says then.

In the end, with all the hassle we are now getting from the post or customs services of various countries, it’s going to be cheaper and easier to stop sending stuff abroad. So, increased costs and lower turnover – tell me again about how we will benefit from leaving Europe.

Day 10

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The day started with a heap of orders. One of them was for £300 of bulk coins and another was an order for 30 different items. It was nearly 2.00pm by the time we got it all done, and there was such a long queue in the post office that we had to leave the parcels there and go back later. It looks like everyone had a good weekend on eBay.

The photographs are the aluminium medallion I mentioned a couple of days ago. I finally got round to finding the camera I managed to mislay over the weekend.

One side of the aluminium medallion – not sure which is obverse and which is reverse

With penny for size comparison

I’ve just had a break and am now back at the computer on a Zoom meeting with the Numismatic Society. It’s a bit tricky as I have no camera or microphone, but I am able to see other people and hear them. Well, the ones that have cameras and microphones – I’m not the only Luddite in the Society.

The advantage of Zoom, as I’m finding, is that you can write a blog post and order pizza whilst being at a meeting. This is why the “no camera” option suits me. They won’t be able to see me eating. It’s not quite the healthy option I was intending, I will have to make it up to my body by eating lots of salad for the rest of the week.

It’s quite an interesting talk tonight, though counter-stamped coins of various Caribbean islands are not something I’d ever thought about before. As I said before – collecting expands the mind.

Reading, and Other Pastimes

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After a hard day sitting in a cold shop and drinking coffee, I thought i’d have a serious go at getting some work done when I got home. I was just getting into my stride when the phone rang. That took a half hour chunk out of my evening. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed talking about coins and collecting, but it’s just brought me to a standstill.

I now need to start cooking is we are going to eat before the grocery order arrives. But if I don’t write the blog first I’ll end up like I have done on the last few nights, with limited time and not much thought.

I do have quite an interesting post in preparation (well, I find it interesting) but it needs some work and I can’t concentrate if I’m rushed. It will have to go away again and I will have another go tonight when I’m not pressed for time.

Today’s post was interesting. tI had a mysterious envelope which turned out to have an anthology of haibun in it. This comes free with my membership of the British Haiku Society. I thought I really should rejoin, after a break of 14 years. I had the journal last week, so I really am up to the eyeballs in Japanese poetry.

I also had a novel called Splash!, which I hadn’t heard of until now. It’s from the Book Club Number One Son signed me up for as a Christmas present. It’s good to read things that different from normal. I can’t recall the last time I read a work of fiction without at least one body and a butler.

Finally there was a book I bought for myself (yes, I know…) – Regency Spies. It is not to be confused with a series of Regency romances that crop up when you Google it. But, for now, I’d better get on with the cooking.

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I rose a little earlier than usual this morning, which is part of my new plan. It is necessary, after weeks of casual slacking, to return to the world. Rising earlier will help me get more work done, and if I get up fifteen minutes earlier each day I won’t notice the gradual change. By the time I go back to work I will be rising with the lark and facing the day with fortitude. Not that we have a lot of larks in Nottingham, in the morning or, indeed, at any time of the day.

As I descended, ready for the day, the post arrived. I now have a new supply of bran for the bokashi bucket. We are producing a lot more vegetable waste these days as a result of healthy eating. As we gradually work our way through the carrots I am also peeling more – there’s something very unappetising about the skin of an aging carrot.

I will be finalising our shopping list later in the day, and carrots won’t be on it.

The second parcel contained masks. I’ve only bought ten, but I thought I’d get a few just in case. Government advice is still that we don’t need them, but this might change and it’s easier to wear a proper mask than make one from a handkerchief and two rubber bands.

Photo by Anna Shvets on Pexels.com

In the evening, acting on Tootlepedal’s advice, I watched some improving TV. First I watched a painting programme, which would have been useful if I had any talent for painting. Then I did the washing up while Julia watched an Andy Warhol exhibition at the The Modern. We then sat down for two programmes about Philip Larkin. He was an interesting though slightly repellent character, but I knew that. The first programme was by someone who had known him and was quite interesting. The second was by someone who had trained as an actor before becoming an academic. That one was interesting because it showed how an academic can build a media career.

Just after midnight I checked in with TESCO, which has no delivery or collection, and ASDA, which did have a collection slot. I did some ordering then had a look at the list for our Thursday collection. It’s hard doing the shopping by remote control.

Not the Worst Day I’ve Ever Had

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Today I packed parcels. I wrote eight slips out and remembered, after the sixth, that it was no longer 2019.

I moved on to load a gold 50p piece on eBay (it was Paddington Bear at St Paul’s Cathedral). I won’t trouble you with my views on “collectable” coins or the debasement of national character that accompanies cartoon animals being depicted on coins. However, I will let you imagine what these views are.

Then, just in case the excitement of being back at work became too much, I photographed some 1930s auction catalogues. That calmed me down.

A number of people rang me for advice on “rare” coins. On even rang me twice. I thought about telling him he was an idiot but customer service training prevented this.

Paddington Bear at St Paul’s Obverse

Paddington Bear at St Paul’s in box etc

You can tell how well everything went from the fact that I spent the whole day thinking it was Friday. It was only when Julia informed me that tomorrow was not Saturday, as I thought, that I realised my mistake.

We had vegetable stew for tea. Then we had cheese. It was very relaxing.

Now I’m writing a short post and I’m going to have tea and biscuits before going to bed.

As days go, I’ve had worse.

Senior Moments and Postal Problems

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I’m not currently at my best. If I tell you that I went through most of the day under the impression that it was Tuesday you may get some idea of the impairment suffered by my softening brain.

This was despite the fact I knew the car had gone away on Wednesday, which was yesterday. A simple process of deduction could have told me that it was Thursday today but I managed to miss out on that basic step.

This morning I managed to do the parcels on my own as the owner sorted a big trade order, and when it came time to get the parcels to the post office he noticed that I’d stamped several parcels up with the right stamps for Special Delivery but had stuck the labels for Signed For delivery on them.

That looks very inelegant – Special Delivery, I can just about live with, though the old name Registered didn’t, in my opinion, need changing. But Signed For sounds like an incomplete phrase rather than a description of a postal service. It was better when it was called Recorded Delivery.

In an ideal world you wouldn’t need this sort of postal service. Unfortunately there are so many thieves, liars and idiots on eBay that we need to use it to protect ourselves.

The normal problem is that somebody gets in touch a couple of weeks after you post something and says it wasn’t delivered.

Stamps, stamps, stamps

We then go on the Royal Mail site and put in the tracking number. Normally it shows that the post office tried to deliver it and, as nobody was there, put a card through the letter box telling the addressee to go and pick it up or arrange to have it delivered again when they will be in.

Unfortunately people don’t always see the bright red card. They also often seem to think it’s my job to arrange the redelivery for them, even though I don’t know when they will be in.

Some, even though it’s been signed for, insist that it hasn’t been delivered and tell us they want another parcel sending free of charge.It is possible that someone has signed for it fraudulently, but again, that really isn’t my problem.

One man actually accused us of knowing when it would be delivered and driving up to Scotland to sign for it and steal it. We were tactful, because he clearly had more problems than missing post.

It’s not even as if it was a sustainable business model…

And at that point, having established that some people have worse senior moments that I do, I will sign off.

Bins, boxes and barbecues

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We only sold four lots over the weekend. Two of them sold on Saturday afternoon, after the Post Office closed, so we packed them before we left. Two sold on Sunday. Then, as we looked at the small pile of post someone bought another lot.

Five parcels.

I think we might have to postpone plans to buy a new box of teabags.

Meanwhile, I just had a phone call from Malta. Apparently the weather was great at East Midland Airport, glorious over France, lovely over the Alps, grey over Italy and murky in Malta.

It’s a lovely evening in Nottingham. Nice and bright and warm and I didn’t need to queue up, sit on an aeroplane or defy nature to get here. I just sat on a chair.

It’s also, according to the photograph Julia just sent, dark in Malta. You’ll have to take my word for it as I’m struggling to download the photo. It seems to have plenty of water and reflected lights in it so I’m sure you’ll love it if I manage to download it.

Julia left me a packet of Mr Kipling Cherry Bakewells. It was waiting for me when I returned home and helped ease the pain of parting. Unfortunately I can’t provide you with a picture of that either. I suppose I ought to be ashamed of myself.

I had ham sandwiches for lunch. I also had ham sandwiches for tea. At the moment I’m debating having ham sandwiches for supper. I like ham sandwiches, and cooking for one keeps the shopping simpler. I’m considering what to buy for tomorrow. If I buy a piece of gammon I can cook it and use it to make ham sandwiches for the next few days.

So far I’ve only used white cobs and Branston pickle. I have multi-seed bread and a choice of mustard or tomato relish available, so I’ve barely scraped the surface of the variety of choices available in the world of ham sandwiches.

I may even consider salad.

If ham sandwiches start to lose their appeal, and I don’t see why they would, I have a reserve stock of cheese.

It’s fairly clear from this that the difference between a normal man and a recluse with a ham fixation is only a few hours. That, I suppose, is why it’s good for men to get married.

Today’s pictures are some I took in the Mencap garden last week. The theme is recycled waste bins, boxes and barbcues. That gives me an idea for a title…

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

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Life after the Care Farm