Random Post of Happy Things

[byslantedlight]

To replace the post of Riot Against the ConDems who have just more than doubled the price of my sending random tiny wee envelopes of happy things to my elderly mum in Australia. Oh no, of course it wasn't them, all they did was privatise the post office - nowt to do with them what happened next... Grrrr...

I am so peeved that I can't concentrate on work right now, so I'm randomly posting more cheerful things...










(All nicked off Pinterest, btw...)

Okay, I really am going to work now. Not read. :( But I wish I was reading...

Comments

[snailbones.livejournal.com]

The cost of sending anything anywhere is nuts now. Plus the fun interview you have in order to send even a tiny package. I insist on telling them I'm sending explosives/nuclear waste/arsenic now... if they're going to ask me damn stupid questions after I've queued for 20 minutes then I'm going to give them damn stupid answers. Ooh look, we're both ranty about the post *g*

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm not sure that the whole explosives/arsenic thing is the way to go when you don't know the posties really really well - or rather they don't know you... *g* It's all been going this way for ages now, I swear they're trying to get rid of it all together, so that the big companies can use other big delivery companies to send out their post (as alot of them do now) in a lovely merry-go-round of making money from the ordinary people who actually pay for it ("free delivery" my bottom...) But in the meantime there are still people out there in their 70s and all who didn't have a chance to become internet savvy, and are going to the be ones who suffer most from it, just at the end of their lives when they need easier ways to bits of happiness, not harder... I'm just so tired of people who can't think of anything other than how to make life easier for themselves (in other words - our charming government and all their supporters....)

[snailbones.livejournal.com]

Amen!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

There - I ranted more, on a whole brand-new day!

[heliophile-oxon.livejournal.com]

I didn't know the post office was this bad for Far Off Places - what a total pain in the arse. But I love your expressions of annoyance *g*. Especially one night stand ... *vbg*

I get very attached to books. I am almost incapable of ever getting rid of a book, in fact - a book has to be really, appallingly, utter rubbish for me to do so - so I have some that are old and falling apart. I even saved a couple of childhood ones from my mother's house when we cleared it. ... they would pile up more, but lately a combination of no space and no money has made me keep the addiction in check :-\

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I should have started work, but... hello! *g*

I think it's not just for far off places - you won't get anything UK-bound through that slot either, if it's thicker than, oh, about a single folded sheet of paper. Or bigger than A5. I mean, £4 doesn't sound like much, but it adds up alot quicker than £2 does, especially if you're not in a household with a couple of incomes and at least one of them nice and fat... Gargh...

Except that I was supposed to be focussing on not being cross about it (unless I'm going to go out and actively join a campaign group, of course... or some alternative political party that just doesn't exist at the moment... *more sigh*)... So books! Yes! I was soooo good before I went to Australia, and managed to give quite a few bags of books to charity shops, but it crunched me inside to do it. I neeeeeed to live somewhere with more space for books - I miss the Victorian houses I lived in when I was in Manchester! I totally couldn't give away any of my childhood books though - I've even managed to save some of the old Jack and Jill and Teddy Bear comics we had when we were very wee indeed! Oh, but I want them out of storage! I must confess though, I've been back - only just nearly two months, and already I have a shelf full of new books for my collection... which I love. *g*

[caffyolay.livejournal.com]

I think what threw me about the PO was when I went in to post your book she wanted to know what was in it 'for security'. Well, fine. I'm positive that if I was posting a letter bomb I'd lean over the counter and say, 'It's a bomb! Wooohooo!!!' Gawd...

Love the Maths in the horror section one... it's reminding me of the brilliant book I'm reading at the moment funnily enough. When this rather busy week is over, come Easter Monday hopefully, I shall review it.

Also adoring the hokey pokey and the night stand one. *G*

Loving all your bookish posts. :-)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Yeay bookish posts! I'm enjoying them too, and it's a bonus if anyone else does! I'm enjoying yours as well - so glad you're back at it over here! *g*

I suppose like anything else, POs depend on the people who run them - I've got to admit that actually asking the question about security is a bit bizarre! Mind you, I was always amused by the US customs forms (might be used in other countries too, but that's where I remember them from) which ask things like whether you're a criminal or terrorist or something. "Well yeah, I am - you're still going to let me into your country,right?" *headdesk*

The maths cartoon tickled me too - I so would have done that if I'd thought of it.. *g* I like the sound of a book it reminds you of, too - shall look forward to your review. *g*

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

Every so often the Republicans talk about privatizing the PO over here. I can just imagine the same results.

And I'm totally behind the Lemony Snicket quote!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Isn't the Lemony Snicket quote fab? I must read that book too!

I'd like to say that I can't believe the ConDems got away with privatising the PO over here, but actually it's been in process for years and years, and I've seen very few complaints - and I feel guilty because it's not as if I went out to find and/or form a group to oppose it myself... I suppose that's the thing - it's used less and less by younger people who're all online, and as usual the people who it affects most are those least able to protest...

[miwahni.livejournal.com]

Our new government has been gently floating the idea of maybe one day privatising the PO - which of course means they have their plans to do so intact and are just waiting until we've become a bit accustomed to the idea.
I haven't bought anything from the UK for a little while so I guess I'll be dismayed by the postage the next time I order from Amazon. :-(

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I don't imagine it would affect your postage prices when buying things from the UK - shops and companies will use delivery firms and couriers rather than Royal Mail, because they can use the various tactics to edge out competition, like offering "free delivery" that's actually built into the cost of the product. Actually I'm kind of surprised the Australian government didn't beat the UK government to privatising the PO...

I grant that the postal service is so much less used than it once was, by private individuals, I mean, but it would have showed some humanity to delay it's death until all those who need it - the internet non-savvy generations - have also passed... See, I can think just as callously as our government - only I can mitigate the callousness into actual humane action. Why can't they?! Just - gargh!