The strikes are off!!!

The good news of today is that the strikes which have hit Royal Mail over the past few weeks have been suspended! Yay!

The reasons behind the strikes are multifarious but in essence come down to the management trying to force through changes to the organisation which the Union and the staff in general disagree with.

The news sources kept reporting it that pay was involved. It wasn’t. Well no exactly, it’s only mention was that in future pay and benefits should in principle be linked to any efficiency savings made. So we wanted management to just consider us getting something out of all the changes, just consider it, but they’re weren’t willing to even do that.

We accept changes are needed. We accept that job numbers will be cut. What don’t accept is the way the changes were being brought in. After the previous strikes there was an agreement that all changes would be agreed at a local level. However at best all that has happened is “discussions” have  taken place, but the result of these discussions had been decided before they took place. And at worst, changes have been brought in by executive action: this is what is going to happen, like or lump it.

From the public’s point of view, Royal Mail is a public service. From the management’s, the government’s point of views it’s a business trying to make a profit. From the regulator’s point of view is an obstacle in the way of the competitors. These three views cannot be easily aligned. Something has to give, and it’s usually the public service element.

Today I worked 2.5hrs overtime just to clear all my workload. I could have said that I couldn’t do the overtime. But then the work wouldn’t have been delivered and it would still be there tomorrow. If we cannot do the work now,m how can we be expected to do it with less staff? And for the record, we are one of the offices that have access to the new all-singing-all-dancing sorting machines. Which don’t save us anywhere near as much time as we were told they would.

But at least for the moment, the strikes have been called to allow more detailed and meaningful talks to take place. It was interesting to hear on the news that Union would this time to negotiate with the management, whilst the management said they would push ahead with their plan of change. So they can’t even agree on what’s going to happen now. Doesn’t look to good does it? Let’s all cross our fingers and hope shall we?

 

[This post was delayed due to the fact that after getting home from work and eating, I fell asleep before having a chance to publish it!]

Everything Is Permitted

Ok so this may be a bit lame, but it’s late and I’m tired and I’ve got no inspiration for today’s post. So I’ve borrowed a meme that’s on a friends facebook page. Have fun reading it.

Ok, you gotta set your IPod to shuffle and write whatever song comes up underneath the heading…even if it sounds stupid!!

IF SOMEONE SAYS “IS THIS OKAY” YOU SAY
The British Grenadiers
WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBES YOUR PERSONALITY?
4th of July, Ashbury Park (Sandy)
WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Grand March Aida
WHAT IS YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE?
Learning To Fly
WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Going Down Town Tonight
WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
The Girls? The Leather? The Machismo?
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
Good Girls Go To Heaven (Bad Girls Go Everywhere)
WHAT IS 2+2?
Exit
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
All non-starters really
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Original Sin
WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
One Tree Hill
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Wolf At Your Door
WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Night Is Falling
WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Crown Imperial
WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
It’s A Long Way To Tipperary
WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Amnesty Is Granted
WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
On The Run
WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
You And Your Friend
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Night is Falling
WHAT’S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
Sunday Morning Coming Down
HOW WILL YOU DIE?
Ever Glorious
WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
I’m Your Man
WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
Freeway Flyer
WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
Standard of St George
WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
Please Forgive Me
WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
45 Seconds of Ecstasy
DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
Calling Elvis
IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face
WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
The Rocks And The Water
WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Everything Is Permitted

What does that say about my taste in music then? The strange thing is, some of this could be true!

Oh, and thanks Heather!

Books

About a year ago I wrote a post about reading books where I listed all the books which I had started but not finished. Well I just want to update you happy reader on how I’m doing.

I’ve actually finished two of them: “The Transit of Venus” and “The Colour of Money”. I’m ashamed to say that I haven’t even picked any of the others up since last year.

However I have read several books in the past few months:

• Failure is not an Option by Gene Kranz.
• 1984 by George Orwell
• Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
• Lima 3 by Harry Ferguson
• A Beginner’s Guide to Stage Lighting by Peter Coleman

And I’m now making the effort to read and finish one book at a time. Eventually I’ll work my way through the list of part-read books, but not straight away.

My current book, which I have just started is The Castle by Franz Kafka. I think this is the third time I’ve started it, and this time I’m determined to finish it!

[I know this post is going to be dated for November 4 and not November 4, but as I’m still up, I reckon it counts!]

Filler

This is a cheat!

It’s almost midnight, and as yet I have completely failed to get any inspiration for today’s blog post. So as a last ditch attempt not to fall at the first hurdle, I’m writing this little filler. Trouble is, I’m not going to be able to do it again am I?

Hopefully tomorrow I’ll have better luck. I’ll definitely have more time (really?) so who knows.

I think I’ll read over some of my old posts and see if there’s anything I can follow up on or update you (there is someone reading this isn’t there?).

But for now, I think I’ve written all I can. So I’ll see you all tomorrow

November – blog post month (again)

It’s November again. Where has the year gone? Last November I managed to post a blog entry everyday. And failed miserably to continue the trend afterwards. So let’s see how we do this year. Again, I’ want to post an entry every day for the month and I want to see if I can continue in to December.

Like last year, I have no specific theme or plan to what what I’m going to blog about. I’ll not to make it too boring, but if I do then I’m sorry, come back the next day and see if it’s any better.

October was a really bad month for me personally, and I suspect that the beginning of November is going to be tough as well. Without wanting to get to depressing to start with, several people I knew passed away during the last few weeks, and I have the prospect of three funerals coming up in the next couple of weeks. I’ll do my best from get you all depressed though.

This week however sees the performance of Patcham Barnstormers’ latest production: A Night At The Movies. It’s a series of sketches and songs from various movies from the days of silent movies right through the fairly modern times. As usual I’ll be hiding away in the little room in the loft playing with the lights. I’ve had the normal run of problems that I seem to have at every show – not enough lamps, not enough power, not enough gels, not enough…. blah blah blah! But I’ll do my best. Eventually I’d like us to move out of the “it’ll do” situation and get us in to “wow!”  But I suspect it’ll be a long hard slog.

Well that will do for now. See you all tomorrow (hopefully!)

The light at the end of the tunnel…

Today, for the first time in ages, I woke up feeling really depressed. And it was all my own fault (isn’t it always?)

Over the past few weeks/months I had come to believe that the was a path open to me which would take me in a new direction. To make my life better and happier. But instead, when I woke up today I realised that I was actually deluding myself. The option wasn’t there at all. It was like being hit in the face by a frying pan.

Sometimes we are presented with a fork in the road, and we have a real opportunity to change the course of our lives. Other times, we think we can see a fork, but in reality, it’s just a animal-run through the undergrowth and leads us no-where.

This morning I realised that I had left the path and was heading in to the undergrowth and was facing the prospect of getting hurt or injured. And so I had to stop and back track.

I talked the situation through with a close friend who basically said that God would make the fork in the road appear when the time was right. And so I have spent a fair bit of today in prayer and conversation with God. And I know that one day, that new path will open up for me.

In the meantime, I will remember that the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t necessarily the exit, it could be a train coming the other way!

I’m back!

Well it’s been a long time since I last posted anything on here. It’s not that I haven’t had anything to say, more a case of I just couldn’t get myself in to the right frame of mind and actually bother to write anything.

But I’m back.

No promises as to how often I’ll post, but I’ll try to be a bit more regular than the last few months –not that that will be hard!

I have a few ideas for some posts, and I’ll try to write some of them up when I’m feeling in the mood, and then publish them as required.

I also have a plan for a photography project, but more details of that will be in another post.

Right, that’s it for the moment. See you all again in the not-too-distant future.

Why I’ve stopped using Facebook

I know it’s been a while since I last wrote anything for this blog, but this week has seen several things happening that I feel strongly about and so I’ve managed to put finger to keyboard again.

Some of you may have noticed that I recently posted on twitter and facebook that I was unhappy with the new FB terms of use and so would not be updating my status there any more. I would now like to explain why I feel this way.

The new terms state:

You are solely responsible for the User Content that you Post on or through the Facebook Service. You hereby grant Facebook an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to (a) use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute (through multiple tiers), any User Content you (i) Post on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof subject only to your privacy settings or (ii) enable a user to Post, including by offering a Share Link on your website and (b) to use your name, likeness and image for any purpose, including commercial or advertising, each of (a) and (b) on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof. You represent and warrant that you have all rights and permissions to grant the foregoing licenses

Now the way I read this is that I give FB permission to use anything I put on the site for any purpose they wish; that I cannot revoke this right even if I delete the content or close my account; and that they can pass this on to anyone they wish to do likewise.

Now compare that to the previous terms:

When you post User Content to the Site, you authorize and direct us to make such copies thereof as we deem necessary in order to facilitate the posting and storage of the User Content on the Site. By posting User Content to any part of the Site, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such User Content for any purpose on or in connection with the Site or the promotion thereof, to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such User Content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing. You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time. If you choose to remove your User Content, the license granted above will automatically expire, however you acknowledge that the Company may retain archived copies of your User Content.

Notice the difference? Under the old terms, any content I delete from my account is automatically removed from the terms of the licence. The fact that they may keep archived copies is just a quirk of the internet.

In a blog post Mark Zuckerberg write this as a response to this situation:

One of the questions about our new terms of use is whether Facebook can use this information forever. When a person shares something like a message with a friend, two copies of that information are created—one in the person’s sent messages box and the other in their friend’s inbox. Even if the person deactivates their account, their friend still has a copy of that message. We think this is the right way for Facebook to work, and it is consistent with how other services like email work. One of the reasons we updated our terms was to make this more clear.

Well Mr Zuckerberg, you obviously haven’t quite grasped the difference between an email and content posted on your site. When I send an email, yes two copies are made, one in my machine, and the second on the recipient’s machine; this means that I have no control over the second copy. However, when I post to the facebook site, there is only one copy – on the facebook server. People viewing it do not download a copy, they vew the item on the server. Therefore if it’s deleted from the server, it’s gone. Forever. [ok I now that in reality mutliple copies may exist for the purpose of backups and that web-browsers actually download copies of the content, but I’m trying to keep it simple!]

Now consider what would happen a few years into the future when facebook has sold out to Megacorp Inc and I have become famous (I can dream!). Even if I have closed my account, and deleted all of my content; under these terms they would be able to use any thing which I had previously put on the site as they wished, even to advertise their products – without needing to ask my permission.

The changes to the terms of use were brought in by stealth. They fundamentally alter the relationship between facebook and it’s users; and they were brought in without notification. Changes such as this should have been notified to every user before hand so that users could remove content before giving away their rights.

Update [19/2/09]:

Well it looks like My Zuckerberg and the Facebook team have decided to listen to their users, at least temporarily. The original Terms have been re-instated whilst they look at write new ones. So I have now gone back to Facebook and deleted all the photos and other content that I have wish to keep some control over. I am happy to continue using the service as I do like the ability to connect with friends, I was just unhappy about the way they went about changing their terms of service

Brighton Council & parking

In the post this morning was a nice letter from the Adult Social Care & Housing department of Brighton & Hove City Council. And I assume it has been sent to all the residents in my block of flats

It states:

“It has been noted on a recent estate inspection that some residents are parking cars on the verges, namely a Honda accord XXXXXXX and a Peugeot 207 XXXXXXX

“Residents are reminded that it is illegal to park on these verges, and if cars are witnessed parked on the verges again they WILL be removed and if the owners are identified we regret that Cathey XXXX your Housing Officer will have to take appropriate tenancy action”

Firstly I glad to say that neither of the cars listed are mine.

Secondly I’m not sure quite what “tenancy action” can be taken against me as I’m a leaseholder.

I have however replied stating that I hope that Council drivers will also be dealt with

 

Now as far as I can tell, there is no law prohibiting parking on grass verges, but there could be a byelaw. I have lived here for over  years and there has never been any signs saying that the is a byelaw prohibiting parking on the verge. I have also searched the Council’s own website and there is no mention of parking on grass verges.

I shall await their reply

The three for three meme

A few weeks back I was tagged by Danie as revenge for my tagging her in a previous meme. And now I’ve got round to doing my meme.

 

1. Top 3 non-work websites:

Facebook: I use this to keep up with what all my friends are up to. Even if I don’t use all the apps and play the stupid games on it, it is handy to keep tabs on others.

Flickr: I post mt photos here and like to browse what others (friends and random peeps) have uploaded

Ancestry: As one of my hobbies is tracing my family tree, I spend a lot of time on here searching census returns

2. Three favourite cocktails:

I’m going to have to draw a blank on this one as I don’t do cocktails – sorry

3. Top 3 karaoke songs:

I’d have to be *really* drunk to do karaoke, but the ones I’d sing along to are:

1. Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen

2. Money for Nothing – Dire Straits

3. Summer of ‘69 – Bryan Adams

 

And now to tag three more people: Hedgewytch, Lisa and Devygyrl