Even though my working life began in the telecommunications side of the Post Office, my affection for the good old postal service is quite strong.  I guess much has to do with the life-long friendships I made at international postal conferences in 1974 and 1979.  But I was getting a bit nervous about the time a parcel was taking to arrive.  It’s a battery charger and spare camera battery, which I need on Saturday, and I ordered it over a week ago.  The site did say 4-7 working days for delivery (by Royal Mail), and now I see why – the envelope turned up this morning, stamped with 55 Hong Kong dollars (about £4.50).  How the nature of the business has changed.  Letters and bank statements are all electronic these days, and apart from Christmas cards and thank-you notes, practically all we get in the post is junk, much of it from Saga, from whom we don’t want car, house, pet, health or travel insurance, thanks very much.  Oh, and not cruises either.  (Their magazine is good, though.)

The other new component is parcels of stuff ordered on the internet, and it’s a strange week when we don’t get something or other via that route.  With the cost of fuel these days, it’s significantly cheaper to buy from on line suppliers, who furthermore charge less, by and large, because they haven’t got the expense of shop fronts.  Worrying for the retail trade, and particularly for individual traders already hit by Tesco and the like.  Fuel costs will benefit local shops, of course, but our two local grocers are both One-Stop stores – thinly disguised Tescos – within 100 yards of each other.