Holey Smoke. Whats Goin' On?

Was going to whine on about my job today but I have another matter I want to talk about instead. This one has been bubbling on the back burner for some time, but now I demand answers, Stat. Still watching too many repeats of ER for my own good! But who can blame a girl. If I say George Clooney, then those of you who know me will understand what I am saying. Ooooh! Just a minute, I have to do something.......... Right, back again. Just took one of the new anti-digression pills my doc prescribed me. Yes, I can feel me homing in on today's topic already. What is going on with holes in the road? You can probably now see that my title is not actually an example of my poor spelling but a major piece of wit. Or not. Hang on. Got to pop another pill. The last one has worn off already....... Not sure how they do it round your way, but things go thus in this fine burgh. A load of men descend on a street and proceed to dig large and inconvenient holes all over the place in a seemingly indiscriminate manner. When I say "they" I use this plural in a loose manner. Usually there is only one person actually exhibiting any signs of activity at one time. Similar to a relay team, except that athletes never all grind to a halt at the same time for an hour or two so that they can catch up with their reading. Or "The Sun" newspaper to give it it's full title, lest it should be confused as something approaching literature. And when they have turned your road into something resembling a Swiss cheese (Just visited Wiki and it is Emmental I am refering to) they push off. This could be for days, or even weeks. Do holes in the road have to go through some maturation process? Would they be spoiled if they were filled in too quickly? There is definitely a cheese (or should that be cheesy) thread running through this one. Finally the workmen return and your road is reinstated. And then they disappear, only to besmirch someone else's hallowed highway. Never mind "Answers on a Postcard", I need you guys to post comments, Stat. Sorry, should never have taken that "Conversational Latin" class at night school last year.

For Emma Watson Fans

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCeRafyh_zI This is for you JanieBelle, and all other Emma Watson fans. How did the battle go with Kate?

I so hope I am wrong

I really hope I have just done a bit of girly over reaction and this foot and mouth thing is simply a storm in a teacup. Please let it be so.

We Gotta Get Movin'

Just reviewed my last post. Thanks for the comments guys. We so need to get it right this time. I can't approach this subject without floods of tears but there is no way I am going to back down. It's not my nature. I hate the thought of thousands of animals being slaughtered simply on a precautionary basis. But if it halts this scourge, just do it. This is not a time for sentiment. I want to share a basic principle of mine that I think is relevant to this situation. However hard it may be at the time I always work on the basis of "greater good". You can also phrase it as "lesser bad". It comes to the same thing. I haven't cried so much in years, sorry. What I am trying to say in my usually long winded and pedantic way is that sometimes you have to be "cruel" to be kind. Sorry about the platitude but I think it sums up how I feel at the moment. I have been lacking in inspiration this week but this is definitely not the way I wanted to get fired up again. But as far as I am concerned, it has to be said.

Oh No, Please Not Again

Emergency post. This is serious. No room for humour on this one. I have just caught wind of a new Foot and Mouth outbreak. I fervently hope it doesn't turn out like the last one. I was very much affected by it. I am currently crying and am finding it hard to see the screen and the keyboard, that is how much it means to me. At the time of the last outbreak I was doing the rural run every working day and so was very much caught up in it. Some owners of farms and small holdings simply banned me from their premises altogether. I didn't take it personally but it did make me feel a bit uncomfortable. Others insisted I drove over or walked over disinfected mats. The worst bit about it was that despite all these precautions I could potentially still have spread the disease, given the nature of my job. The worst case scenario would have been the llamas. Being ruminants they were at risk and even if they had been destroyed, due to no involvement of mine, I would still have been almost as devastated as their owners. Needless to say, I, along with everyone else was banned from entering the premises. They would have been almost impossible to replace. Thankfully the disease did not reach us but seeing the fear of people, some I have known for years, is something I never wish to experience again. Both for them, and myself, I hope the new political regime we have gets off it's butt and acts now. Last time they just sat back and hoped the problem would go away. And what happened? The countryside virtually shut down, tourism died a death, not to mention thousands of animals who might have been spared a similar fate, and the tax payers had to pick up a tab of in excess of £8 Billion. We have finally fully withdrawn from Northern Ireland after the longest campaign in British military history. So we have some spare troops. Unlike last time, when it was left far too late to get them involved, get these guys in there now.

Oh no

Getting Bored

I have now done three delivery days to "Famous Author Land" in a row. On the one hand I love doing this area, a lot of it is green and leafy, but the best thing about my current duty is that I am in a different area every day of the week, normally. The author count has not been good though. I saw Ian Rankin in the distance as I was handing a parcel to his partner on Tuesday, and I spoke to Alexander McCall Smith today. He was concerned about some mail he had not recieved, and who could blame him. It seems that in all this bickering the real point of the whole exercise has been lost. The customers. I apologise on behalf of Royal Mail to anyone who has been inconvenienced by this dispute. I wish it could be resolved another way. Arm wrestling maybe. But of course that is silly and impractical, much like myself. I am sorry we have felt the need to recourse to strike action but it is about the only option us "cannon fodder" have at our disposal. The fat cat bosses seem to want to run the organisation like some type of Victorian plutocracy where we poor minions simply do as we are told, or else. Would you be happy to do more work for less money? I doubt it. It has been suggested that we deliver milk and papers as we go round with our bulging bags of mail. It has also been mooted that we read meters at the same time! Next thing you know they will want us to pop up the odd chimney and give it a sweep. After all, it smacks of Victoriana, which our managers are deeply steeped in. I laughingly suggested recently (you know what a major wit I am) that we could slide broom handles up where the sun don't shine and also sweep the streets as we pass. I hope the management don't get hold of that one or we could all have a bit trouble sitting down from now on.