The Postal Strikes - UK and Europe

What's happening at Royal Mail? If you haven't heard already, here in the UK we are experiencing 'dispruptions' in our postal service due to Royal Mail workers taking strike action by staging a series of walkouts.

There was a national strike last week and one is planned for next week and these are set to continue in the run up to Christmas (unless and agreement is reached between Royal Mail and the union). So far, the strikes have caused a severe backlog of millions of parcels and letters so obviously delays (or worse, losses/damages) are inevitable.

Contingencies for UK customers. I have put some contingencies in place to ensure customers still receive their orders quickly and reliably by switching all shipping to courier only (which would remain unaffected by the issues at Royal Mail) and I am able to offer UK mainland courier shipping at a rate much lower than previously.

My European friends. That is all great news if you live in the UK. However, it saddens me deeply that my friends across the channel are presently unable to enjoy the Royal Mail shipping rates for small orders. Nothing stings quite like having charge an overseas courier fee for a small order (which may not even be to the value of the shipping itself). Courier shipping to Europe still works out good value for larger orders though.

What now for orders to Europe? Well, this has all lead to my sitting down and think what else I can do. I am able to offer:

• Reduced courier shipping rates to France, Germany, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium for £12.70 for up to 25kg

Royal Mail Strike Dodging for Europe. I am going to make attempts to try and 'dodge' the strikes for European orders under 1.8kg. However, this will be by Airsure (which is a priority service offered by Royal Mail) where it is available. If it is not available in the destination country, then it will be sent International Signed-For. It is worth noting though that orders sent through any Royal Mail system could be subject to delays that would be beyond my control :o(

Hopefully someday soon we can all get back to normal and a happy resolution is reached between Royal Mail and its workers.

Win Rice!

Just a really quick one... This is a great site. My nine year old discovered this. For every answer you get right, 10 grains of rice are donated through the UN Food Program to help feed the hungry. It appears (judging by the time my daughter and husband have spent on it) it is rather addictive :o)

http://www.freerice.com/index.php

Chocolate Fix Anyone?

Only one thing to say... Mmmmmmelange Chocolate..........

Look if you dare :o)

On the one hand I wish I lived closer to this gorgeous choccy shop but on the other, it is a really good job I don't.

The Melange Chocolate
"Purely intended to excite your senses and satisfy your appetite"

Today Is a Sad Day

Picture BBC News

I am feeling very blue today. As I took my children into school this morning I heard one of the other mums say to someone 'the post office in the village has been burned to the ground'. I use this post office every day (sometimes twice a day) to post my smaller parcels and the staff there are just so lovely.

I am sad because this was owned by a husband and wife. Their business destroyed. They have been fortunate to have so far avoided closure (unlike so many other PO's), largely because of their determination.

Another sadness is for one of the staff members. She had been collecting sponsors for months now because in October, she is going to ride The Wall Of Death (sitting on the handlebars of the motorbike) for the charity Wishes For Kids. She was aiming for a target of raising £2,000. Only last week I asked how it was going and she said she would excede the target. How wonderful! She was getting rather nervous about it. The sponsors were on a clipboard in the post office and (since I doubt she would have taken it home of an evening) was probably destroyed. How very sad.

Apparently, burglars broke in and I think the fire was a result of their efforts to break the safe. It took 40 firefighters to bring it under control but now, it's all gone. What will the pensioners do? Will it be rebuilt (or will it be a perfect opportunity to close yet another)? What about the owner's business? What about those who worked there? It was at the heart of the village and part of the community for many, many years. I really feel a great sense of deep loss.

I am perplexed that another human being could create such destruction to not only someone elses property but also something so central to whole community. Yes, H is really feeling sad today. I hope and pray with all my heart that it can be rebuilt and restored once more.

Pettigrain & Tescos

Today I took delivery of some pettigrain (been waiting a little longer than I would have hoped in getting here but YAY, its here!!!). Anyway, it was one of those multi-tasking/multi-hat wearing sorts of days (mum, therapist and order-pickerer / packagerer / preparerer). So, in between client appointments, I decided to decant the pettigrain for customers who had ordered it. As I removed the drum stopper, it made a loud pop which made me kind of jump thus knocking the drum as spilled around 5-10ml all down the front of my uniform.

Now pettigrain is one of my most favourite EO's (reminds me of eu de cologne, Mmmmm.... ) so not really a problem and my uniform is chocolate brown so you couldn't tell. Anyway, after doing the bottle filling, I had about an hour before the next client was due so thought I'd be mum and do a trolly dash around Tescos. Now despite having very little time to wizz round the shop (my local Tescos is HUGE) and the fact it was really busy all I could smell was this pettigrain and I was soooooo relaxed. Did my entrire weeks shop and got back really quick and yet, I was really calm.

It is funny, when I got to the school to pick up the kiddiwinks, I was standing next to a old colleague of mine (from when I worked at the college) and she said 'have you been working with pettigrain?', even she could smell it, lol. Anyway, the moral of the story is, if you want to keep your calm while under pressure, dowse yourself in pettigrain. Works a bloomin' treat.