Thursday, March 26, 2015

stamps, recall and playground

hi there

yes, indeed it is quite a surprise that i am still here writing this as i wrestle with the ways of manflu (with ebola, sarin gas, etc). also a bad back too, look you see, as there was no fancy bus today as there was yesterday. no, it was back to running late spinebreakers.

anyway, a few things have cropped up which warranted a bit of a random post. and where better to start that with things related to proper post, as in stuff that comes through your letterbox.



Royal Mail, an otherwise reputable company that i am pretty much falling out with lately, has in their wisdom decided to issue some comedy stamps, somewhat in an appropriate way on April 1 of this year.  you can see most of the ten on the stamps right there.

it's a bit of a tough one, this. up front, whether i like them or not - and in the "not" camp i am looking mostly at Victoria Wood - there is no question of the genius and love for the ten comedians selected. it's just that this is something of a golden, missed opportunity.

the most startling, bizarre exclusion is arguably one of the greatest and much loved comedians we have ever produced - Peter Sellers. further than that, would this not have been a wonderful, wonderful opportunity to celebrate the much missed man that was the face of modern British comedy? yes, as THE KIDS know, i speak of one Rik Mayall.

would it really have been too much trouble to make it a set of 12 stamps?

since we seem to be on something of a serious note, here's one of them public service things i do from time to time. there has been a product recall issued for a top choice for a Mother's Day present, the 2015 Boofle Mum Mug/Chocolate Set.



if you have one, bought one as a gift or know of someone that has one, please note the above, in particular the link in green, and make sure it is returned and/or replaced.

since we are on a serious note, i was somewhat shocked to see this image from my old route to verk in another land. i took it off that whole twerker / snappy book chat thing, so my thanks to whoever took it.



yes, what you are seeing is an elevated highway, or if you like motorway, bridge separating and causing a gap. i am no engineer or expert bridge man sort of thing, but that looks f*****g dangerous to me, and it's not like i have all that good a track record in terms of road safety.

if they close that bridge down to repair it, which i think they will have to do, the already nightmare Johannesburg roads will get an awful lot worse. oh dear. i just hope none of my friends or colleagues have had harm befall them as a consequence of this.

another look at the Royal Mail comedy stamps thing, then, and a baffling element of it.



i, right, once - once - placed an order on the Royal Mail website. it was for some Thatcher stamps, and they were purchased to annoy people with. which they did. and, ever since, Royal Mail has annoyed me with catalogue and promo cards like this one for every sort of stamp going.

what's the gripe? Royal Mail charge you a delivery fee for stamps you order. that is the one single element which has prevented me from ordering more - it just seems silly to pay to have stamps delivered. Royal Mail make it look all the more silly, too, with the amount of catalogues and promo cards they post. they are, after all, the f*****g mail service. why are they charging me to deliver stamps?

but i might well order some of these comedy ones.

anyway, that will do.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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