I had a parcel delivered by Hermes, the courier company, the other day and just about every day thereafter they have been pestering me by email and SMS to give them feedback, take a survey etc. eBay or the crooks who pay eBay for data must have given them all my contacts, which is fine when you want to know in which 6 hour window they will turn up with the goods, but not so fine after they have.
I had another email from them at 5.30 this morning, and when I got up I replied to it by asking them to stop sending me emails and texts. I pressed 'send' and off it went. When I looked at the copy on my screen, I saw that I had forgotten to delete my business signature from the message, so now they have another phone number to sell on to someone else. The moral is take a deep breath and consider the matter before you press send.
All the way through this crisis, our gormless government have been watching what the other two nations do before taking any decisive action and re-hashing it as yet another 'world-beating' triumph to be forgotten about in a matter of two weeks. As a consequence, Boris and his hapless crew have been playing catch-up with the rest of the country from the outset. They have been leading from the rear.
Now that Wales is about to get locked-down at the end of the week, you can be sure that Boris will lead the world by doing the same to England at about the same time as I am supposed to be starting the much-needed job at a private house out of town. Maybe I won't be celebrating Christmas after all.
The grey, depressing, four month period that always begins on January 2nd and lasts until April is going to be a record-breaker this time. We will have left the EU without a deal, unemployment will be about 30%, credit will have dried up and there is a good chance that Trump will be our only hope for a meaningful trade deal with a wealthy nation. Don't write him off. He seems to be bullet-proof.
As I have said before, it is beyond party politics now and has been since all the undignified back-stabbing which brought Boris to power. There is no point at all in saying - once again - Corbyn would not have done any better - we all know that, and we have known it all along. Say something different or join Colonel Blimp's camp and organise the resistance from a safe distance, like General DeGaul.
I would like to think my mood will improve sometime before April 2021, but I don't hold out much hope.
I've enjoyed your rant, Tom. So many bloggers seem to be able to say what I'm thinking in a far better way and without an accompanying headache! That's why I rarely comment about politics!
ReplyDeleteOh I get the headaches.
DeleteYour 'MOOD' will improve before April 2021 Tom..
ReplyDeleteTrust me..l'm a ...... (please fill in the space)..
The internet..l suppose is the most wonderful
invention ever..? But the downside is terrible..
I don't get involve with it..l haver my folders..
Funny folder..Pussy~cat folder, Draft folder,
Sent folder..and a couple of others..! :).
A a few Blogs l enjoy following..and that's it..
Only my family and friends have my e~mail...If l
want something..CD, DVD, cloths etc..I send the link
to my daughter..she orders it, l then send her the
money..! Job done!
I have never/and never will give it to my Bank,
Gas, Electric, Water, Doctor, Dentist..Absolutely
no one..conected with business or amenities...
I have a landline and a mobile..you want me..phone..
We have a saying in Sicily..Mano a Mano..Faccia a Faccia..!
Hand to hand..Face to face..! The only honest and true way
to do business..!
It appears now..you can see and talk to your Doctor on
the internet..Jeeeese! Hope l never get a boil on me bum..! :).
As far as Lock~up is concerned..sorry..Lockdown..I suppose
they'll get it right, decisions will be made..Goodness!
What an awful statement..! :(.
Oh! I don't know though..Lock~up sounds even better..! :).
So..If l feel a bit down..hardly ever..l go to my Jokes
folder..And, have a chuckle, l've a great uTube video
of Trump sat in his office at his desk being attacked by
a American Bald Eagle..Very clever..! HeHe! Quite funny..! :o).
These times test your faith.
DeleteLock down is probably a given in most locations. Downsides are many. Unwanted emails - just delete. (No response gets you eliminated from the sender's list.) For me: Maintaining sanity amidst chaos is the order of the day. For better or worse, Trump is bullet proof, that sounds about right.
ReplyDeleteI am just in the South West, which is the least contaminated - so far.
DeleteTrump will not remain bulletproof: storm clouds are gathering over his unlovely head.
ReplyDeleteIt's still dangerously close to 50/50.
DeleteRise above it and let it all flow over your head is my motto Tom.
ReplyDeleteMy worry is that it is flowing over my head already.
DeleteWho would have handled it better? Certainly not Corbyn but of Prime Ministers of the last 30 years I would have had more faith in Theresa May, Gordon Brown or John Major.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting comment Tasker. I don’t feel completely qualified as I did not live in the UK under Major or Brown and only saw May as PM, not as minister. But the impression I have of all three is that they are smart, do the work, may not be particularly charismatic and don’t have a pathological need to be liked.
DeleteWhen will anyone just admit that Theresa May did absolutely fuck all to make any positive difference to the mess left behind by that spineless twat who brought the Brexit nonsense down on our heads then left her to clear up the chaos? If today's inheritors had not sacked anyone with any commen sense and installed cunts like Cummings in Downing Street, THEN things might have been different.
DeleteTheresa May did fuck all to make any positive difference to the mess left by Cameron and she really did turn out to be a liar even though I at times stuck up for her and said she wasn't until I discovered the Fisheries Board official representatives and saw their findings and they categorically convinced me that she was a liar. I believe David Davis would also agree that she was a liar.
DeleteShe has a lot to say these days though, unlike Cameron. Oh for a packed house. Stuff is happening in silence now. I never thought I would miss the animals braying.
DeleteFrom the moment the referendum result was declared Cameron made it clear that it was not his problem, he said it over and over again. Having the referendum was supposed to unite the Tory Party, nothing else. It split the country and it wrecked the Tory Party. Corbyn never took any interest outwardly in the Referendum, probably because he voted leave.
DeleteThe Tories were delighted that Momentum pushed Corbyn to the front. It made their job so easy. Then they let a handful of self-seeking amateurs blow the golden opportunity for the sake of their own careers.
DeleteBoth parties sadly blew a golden opportunity. The Tories have decided to go for grabbing as much public cash as they possibly can before they are kicked out in 2024, after oceans of death and catastrophe. aLabour chose to indulge itself by chucking away the chance of beating the most unpopular government for decades by ignoring that Corbyn's unpopularity was also at record levels in polls, or that he was too bad a leader to stop the party tearing itself apart, let alone convince anyone he could run the country.
DeleteWhy didn't you simply press unsubscribe - they go away and never come back.
ReplyDeleteNo unsubscribe option.
DeleteI don’t know boris will follow “ our” example
ReplyDeleteOn the Welsh news there is much debate by the chief medical officer of wales that a short break will not be enough
I can't see 2 weeks doing it either. Us old folks may have to be sacrificed for the sake of what's left of the economy.
DeleteIf any of you are true biological scientists , there is good news.
ReplyDeleteWhich is?
DeleteNow read the article by Dr Mike Yeadon. Not the best of fora but everything he says makes sense. I've run the numbers and spoken to other physiologists.
ReplyDeleteCould you sum it up?
DeleteIf it is the same article. He reckons Sage has it wrong and...
DeleteThe more likely situation is that the susceptible population is now sufficiently depleted (now 28%) and the immune population sufficiently large that there will not be another large, national scale outbreak of COVID-19. Limited, regional outbreaks will be self-limiting and the pandemic is effectively over. This matches current evidence, with COVID-19 deaths remaining a fraction of what they were in spring, despite numerous questionable practices, all designed to artificially increase the number of apparent COVID-19 deaths.
He also states
DeleteIf, like me, you’re sure that the pandemic, as a ghastly public health event, is nearly over in UK, ...
And
. If I am correct, the pandemic is weeks from being completely over and is already done and dusted everywhere south of the Midlands (with the possible exception of Wales – I have not tracked the evolution of the pandemic there adequately enough to say).
Which is good news...ah, spotted a flaw he doesn’t say how many weeks...could be 52 weeks.
And finally
T here is absolutely no need for vaccines to extinguish the pandemic.
So all in all a good news story.
Well that's alright then. I can sleep easily despite the daily news.
DeleteIt is very reassuring isn’t it?
DeleteIt's all in this podcast. Mike Yeadon talking to James Dellingpole
Deletehttps://youtu.be/sbMJoJ6i39k
Ah, James Delingpole, the well known left winger and stalwart of the Daily Express and Telegraph. We should be able to see for ourselves that Dr Yeadon is right by simply looking at the dramatic decline in Covid there has been in all the other countries who have muddled around, got things wrong, brushed aside experts and given important contracts to their unqualified friends. Isnt it nice to know this was the right thing all along!
DeleteMike Yeadon's paper makes interesting reading. I doubt many of us are in a position to be able to make a reasoned assessment of it. Nor is it our job. But if he is correct, then whose whose job it is are not doing it properly.
ReplyDeleteNo, it's not our job. Can you imagine SAGE saying they got it wrong ? Not on your Nelly! I won't go into further details but the modeller was already discredited. (F&M)
ReplyDeleteI could go on and on but Zip is prudent
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteActually you'll find that David Icke, Toby Young and Julia Hartley Brewer also support Mike Yeadon, and honestly I'm not into this hard right eugenics stuff. Dr Yeadon has no qualifications in epidemiology or most of the other specialities represented in SAGE and you'll note he doesn't consider the fate of the vulnerable who are goanna be toast if we assume there's no pandemic. Nazis reckon the weak ought to die anyway, to make the rest of us stronger. I don't support that kind of thing.
DeleteTo be fair, there are plenty of hard-lefts who would support the sacrifice of the elderly and vulnerable.
DeleteThing is, even if you sacrifice the old and sick, this means that hospitals will be overwhelmed trying to keep them alive, and many other people will die after accidents or with other conditions, or not get operations, because there are no staff to look after them. Even if people are willing to say "let 'em die" about their diabetic kid or their overweight mum, will they really refuse to call an ambulance if they have a temp of 105 and can't breathe? And what about businesses, if all the staff fall sick? Or get long covid? This is why we need a government whose priority is to look after the people, who after all pay their salaries, not shovelling those peoples money to their mates.
DeleteCan't you just go to the job. "I'm the away care taker" to anyone who stops you.
ReplyDeleteIt is in the clients's house. The clients are a wealthy American couple who are already nervous about COVID in the domestic setting. I have been negotiating to be able to do the job at all.
DeleteI have been hoping for Hermes to ask me for feed back as I would like to tell them exactly what I think of them. They delivered finally ,after telling me they had my item 3 days before, and then delivered it to a house up the road!!
ReplyDeleteHermes left a parcel “safely in your garage”, unfortunately I was unable to locate my non existent garage, let alone my parcel. I checked the four other houses in my posts code with garages...nothing delivered there either.
DeleteHermes's feedback form has no scope for negativity. If you think they are bad, try Yodel.
DeleteI have just this minute received a new cordless
Deletephone, delivered by Hermes, first ever, and you
mean to tell me l'm gonna get 'paperwork'...Jeeeese!
The other upsetting thing is ALL the pink phones
were out of stock/sold out...! So l've had to have
a black one..What an awful start to a Monday..! :).
Willie..it's Wednesday..Wednesday!
DeleteWednesday..Willie..!
I need a lie down...! :o).
I have just added a picture of the 250 year-old pear tree which they cut down two days ago to make way for HS2. There will be more.
ReplyDeleteWhen l first heard of the HS2..I thought
ReplyDeletethey were talking about an element on the
Chemical Elements/periodic table...! :(
Back in 2015 the budget for this HS2 was
56 billion..currently it is..106 billion..
Leave the thunder to you Tom..
Go for it man..!
And they probably won't finish it for running over the budget.
DeleteOh, that beautiful tree .... how sad.
ReplyDeleteWe have only had one bad experience from Hermes / Yodel ( I shall come to regret saying that, no doubt ) My problem with them is that, many of the delivery guys are Eastern European and don’t seem to know what a knocker is ! They always knock on the stained glass in our front door meaning we often don’t always hear them. Do you think that they don’t have knockers in Eastern European countries ? XXXX
They could recognise your knockers from the other side of the Iron Curtain I bet. XXXXXXXXXX!
Delete😂🤣😂 XXXX
DeleteI'm no fan of Corbyn but I'm not so sure he would have made a worse mess of things. It turns out there are other talented people in the Labour Party who might just have put the welfare and health of the public before the grabbing of lucrative contracts for coronavirus services. Also there is the chance that public services might not have been so badly equipped to deal with it if there had been some years of a socialist government rather than Tory assest stripping beforehand. We will never know. I only hope those ordinary folk who voted for Johnson thinking that "getting Brexit done" would solve all their problems now understand their true postion in the Tory food chain and realise how badly they have been conned and let down.
ReplyDeleteI very much agree with you Jean.
DeleteComments are fascinating, glad we may be on the way out of this present predicament Traveller. As for Hermes, I've tried giving top marks and then low marks. But then they start querying the bad mark. 'Sod off' seems the best reply to them.
ReplyDeleteEven telling them to sod off is a form of engagement that I am unwilling to make.
DeleteStarmer would have done better. He doesn't go around messing up and then jeering at "experts" like this lot have been doing for four years.
ReplyDeleteThis lot choose their own 'experts' to jeer at. Experts = Scapegoats for the convenience of the cabinet. As I keep saying, it was beyond political party business years ago, but it's a shame that the parties refuse to recognise this. Political systems are not fit for purpose, worldwide.
Delete