a phone call

As per my suggestion to myself, I phoned Royal Mail to discuss the current results of my experiment. As I do have a missing letter not sent by me (from the hospital), I did have something to formally complain about. Which is good. Because I can't actually complain about 14's whereabouts until the 8th December. Only then is 14 considered officially lost.
The Royal Mail customer service adviser was quite keen to point out that since late October, it seems that they haven't been doing too bad, though we agreed it appears things might not be looking good for 14. The upshot of having phoned them is that the delivery centre, and eventually my postman, are going to know that they are being tested. I informed the customer service operator that I am going to continue my experiment, so hopefully they will take the challenge by the horns and try even harder. Also I imagine that there will be some notices put up somewhere appropriate that might mention I am a nutter. Probably. But if that is what it takes to get my post delivered to my house, then a nutter I proudly am.

test results -he's early today

It's 10am, and the post has been. Normally it doesn't come till much later.

Anyway.

First Class letters posted = 5 (17/11/09)
First Class letters received = 5 (18/11/09)

First Class letters posted = 8 (18/11/09)
First Class letters received = 7 (19/11/09)

First Class letters posted = 2 (19/11/09)
First Class letters received = 2 (20/11/09)

Letter number 14 is still AWOL. I did not go around to # Name Road. I just could not be bothered. However, I am going to have to write them a note and stick it through their door to let them know that something important is due, and that although my post might not be coming to their house, it's certainly not all coming to mine, so I would appreciate it if they could help me out here, blah blah blah.

I'm tempted to phone Royal Mail now, and then again if they fail to deliver more of my letters. A phone call for each letter, if you will. Yeah, I might do that.

test results - uh oh

I've come in this afternoon to discover that all bar one of the posted items have arrived. This is distressing, but I hope that it will arrive tomorrow. Maybe it just got caught up somewhere. But it is one of the ones I posted from the other side of town...

First Class letters posted = 5 (17/11/09)
First Class letters received = 5 (18/11/09)

First Class letters posted = 8 (18/11/09)
First Class letters received = 7 (19/11/09)

I posted just two letters today, items 16 and 17. Like I say, I hope 15 turns up tomorrow with them. I'll probably go and check with # Name Road today, so if they have received it and thrown it in their bin, maybe they will surreptitiously retrieve it. Though where it is exactly is a moot point. It's not here, is the thing that must not be forgotten.

test results - 2.45 pm

I have arrived home from my shift at work to find unexpectedly good results on behalf of Royal Mail!

First Class letters posted = 5 (17/11/09)
First Class letters received = 5 (18/11/09)

I posted 5 more letters today, this time including three typed addresses in window box envelopes.

LB seems to think I should mix things up a bit, and post from a different part of town. To ensure they are indeed going through all the channels a letter from, say, THE HOSPITAL might go through, I am going to take up this suggestion. We are in a different part of town tonight, so it's a good opportunity to achieve this variable.

test results - 8am

Recorded Delivery

Sent = 1 (17/11/08)
Received = 1 (18/11/08)

Royal Mail plants an early goal in the back of the net.

Let's see if they can maintain their stamina and stay in the game with the regular first class delivery.

a test

Today I posted myself five empty envelopes using Royal Mail. On the back of the envelopes I wrote the numbers 1-5. The number 1 on the first envelope, 2 on the second envelope, 3 on the third, and so on. Tomorrow I am going to post myself five more empty envelopes, and the next day I am going to post myself five more empty envelopes, and I am going to do this until I use up all twenty four fist class stamps that I purchased today.

Why am I doing this?

Well, the postal service to our house is nothing less than appalling. Forget the postal strikes. They were just a minor inconvenience compared to the challenge that is the post to this house on any given postal day, and it has been this way for well over a year.

The reason our house seems to be so hard to deliver to is because we live on a Grove, named after the Road that it branches off of. So you have '# Name Grove' and '# Name Road'. As I have said, we live on the Grove. It seems that this is Very Hard for Royal Mail to deal with, and our post repeatedly goes to the address around the corner, and not to our house. Sometimes we get their post, and a few months ago we got quite a lot of their post. I always take it around and post it through their door, because that is what people should do. The problem is, this is not what they do for us. In fact, I am pretty sure they just throw our post in the bin, now. I have been waiting on a letter from the hospital that was posted over three weeks ago. It has never arrived. I went to check with '# Name Road', and they said they haven't received any of our post. Given that in the past when they have received our post and they have never brought it to our house (I have had to go and collect it), then I have a sneaking suspicion that they just bin our stuff now, and that the letter from the hospital pertaining to a really important appointment has just gone the way of their bin.

This whole thing has been very frustrating, and has been made even more frustrating given that I have complained to Royal Mail about the subject three times. Each time they have said they will fix it, and each time they have failed. Even after the third complaint I made, the very next day we received the wrong post. I was so frustrated I ended up not phoning them, as I wasn't sure that I would not just end up crying down the phone. I was a bit emotional that day.

It seems anything my mum sends me from Australia is especially difficult for them to deliver. Four things my mum has posted me have gone missing. Three to wrong addresses which were later retrieved, and one that was sent back to Australia. No word of a lie. They didn't even try and deliver it at all, not even to the wrong address. You might imagine my mum is a bit confused. After all, it's not like I moved to a third world country with a dubious postal system. No, I am supposed to be living in 'one of the greatest countries in the world'. Well guess what, England? Royal Mail is really shit, and is an embarrassment to your country.

So, back to the test.

I am going to see how many of my 24 letters arrive through my letter slot. I want all 24 to make it, I really do. Do you know how much peace of mind that would give me? Except, I know I am not going to get all 24. And when I don't get all 24, I am going to phone Royal Mail and really get quite a bit angry. I will not cry, as I am not emotional at the moment. And also, the post is especially important at this point in time. We are waiting on the return of our passports from the Home Office, and I swear to God, if Royal Mail cock up that delivery, I am going to slit my wrists. Or spit in my postman's chips. I might do that. You see, I serve him his effing lunch a couple of times a week. And I have never made it personal. I have never said anything to him about how shit he is. I've simply not wanted to take him on at work like that. It just seems inappropriate to me. But I am wondering if it is actually the only way to get through to him.

A part of my experiment is going to be sending myself some 'registered signed for' envelopes as well, as this is how the Home Office will send us back our passports. Please stay tuned for the results. I hope for everyones sake that the results are better than hoped for, but I am not holding my breath.

monkey says no

Earlier today I got the camera out. I was going to take some shots of one of the neighbours cats. He didn't comply, but when I came inside Junior was sitting there looking cute. I don't have that many photos of him, so I thought I'd grab a couple. I got down to his level and was trying to get him to look down the lens when Monkey came along.

Monkey has never had trouble posing for the camera, and if I didn't know any better, I would say that Monkey felt strongly about Junior having his photo taken.