It's Been A While

October last year was the last time I posted on here.  Wow!  I hadn't realised that it had been so long ago.

As some may know I do have another blog which is for my video gaming habit and that seems to have taken over things for a while, but I have ever intention of still posting some mindless rambles on here now and then.

I went out to the post office this morning to post a parcel for an item I had sold on Amazon and I couldn't help but wonder, whilst stood for ages in a small queue, how people who use the post office all the time have such difficulty in understanding what they are supposed to do.  It's like when they approach the counter they are suddenly struck by amnesia or some other debilitating brain spasm and they forget what they were doing or the reason why they are there.

Being stood in a small queue is even more annoying than being stuck for ages in a mile long one!

Another thing I was thinking the other day, is that, would world changing events like the American War of Independence and the English Civil War actually be possible in a modern day society?

It seems like an easy question to answer - no because they have already happened and people are not disillusioned enough with how things are to take such drastic measures.  However I am concerned by the thought that things are not bad enough for people to want to display mass disobedience in order to fix the issues that we are all confronted with.

All around there is social injustice - even in our so called civilised society, there are people who are thrown on the scrap heap unfairly by politicians whose job it is to look after our society and preserve our freedoms above all other things.

You see, I think the average person loses sight of the reason we elect a government rather than have one imposed on us.  Our politicians are there to serve the people.  They are Civil Servants.  They are elected to act on our behalf.  However, as soon as they get into office, it seems that all this goes out of the window and they start dictating to the public what they want us to do.  The sad thing is that we all seem to accept that as the normality of things and end up having our lives turned over by those who are not serving our interests at all, but rather those of big business and corporate entities.

We live in times of austerity, yet the average person is squeezed in the pocket to the point where many people are living in poverty.  Poverty!  In the United Kingdom in 2012.  How can that possibly be happening?  After all the social measures that people fought for (key word there being fought), we have allowed our representatives to bring in a raft of measures that effectively has declared a social war on the poor and the ill.  It's bad enough that people lose their jobs, but the government wants people to work for free to get the benefits they are entitled to.  That is also known as slave labour.

We see fuel prices at the petrol pump going up all the time.  Just four short years ago you could get unleaded petrol for and 85 pence per litre round where I live.  Today I saw the very same petrol station selling it at £1.41.  Where is the protest?  Where is the anger?  It is not the oil prices that are responsible for why we pay so much at the petrol pump, it is the government.  We pay fuel tax and VAT on petrol...two lots of taxes.  This is something that our elected representatives are compelled to act on in order to ease the burden on the tax payer but nothing is done.

Road tax has increased dramatically since I started driving back in the early 1990's.  However, roads are in dis-repair, there is traffic congestion all over the place and our elected representatives solution is to forward a motion to privatise more roads and allow more tolls to placed up and down the country.  Are they going to scrap road tax?  No.  So why are we paying for the right to legally drive a motor vehicle up and down the nations roads when the government are not using that money to maintain them?  What is the money being spent on exactly?  As a motorist I feel I have a right to know how much revenue the government received in road tax last year and what was spent on the nations roads.  If my money I pay to use the roads is not being ploughed back into the road network then that is mis-appropriation of public money and the government should be brought to court over it.

You see how easy it is to highlight the failings of our political system?  Just a few points clearly shows how the government is not acting in our best interests at all.  And there are many more insidious and disgraceful examples that I could show.

Going back to my original point about whether such massive social events like the American War of Independence and the English Civil War are possible, then the answer is no.  We are a society that has been dumbed down and controlled by successive governments down the years.  We are taught from an early age to fear and respect authority which is carried over into our adulthood.  Questioning decisions is not encouraged, protestors now run the risk of being classed as terrorists and detained by the police for an indefinite period of time and sections of society are being painted by the media as scroungers and enemies of the state in order to garner support from the masses for policies to be inflicted on them that is a complete and utter violation of their civil liberties and their human rights.

Yet the majority of people are happy to allow this to happen.  No one seems to want to fight anymore.

I will leave you with this.  All the power a government is given is by the us, the people.  They know this and they need the power we give them.  Through careful manipulation of the media they have played on our fears and we have begged them to protect us by allowing them to strip away our civil liberties and for them to re-write our constitution that people died for to bring into place in the first instance and to protect it down the years since.  What do they think of us?  We the people who have allowed this happen on our watch?

SATURDAY RAGE!

The one element of online shopping that I hate is when something goes missing in the post...correction, when someone somewhere along the line helps themselves to the item or items that you have ordered.  You see, nothing really goes missing in the post unless there is no address label attached or the incorrect postage amount has been applied.  In most cases when it comes to the latter, the post office will send a card to the sender requesting they apply the correct postage in stamps which is then popped back into the post and on it goes.

I recently ordered something from a major online retailer.  Now I order many items from this store and never has the item arrived without an clear address label and as it is part of an automated process it is hard to imagine the label not actually being applied to the parcel prior to posting.  Of course others may have an alternative view on this, but I can only go from my own experiences.

Anyway, the problem is that it hasn't arrived by the estimated arrival date which was today.  Now experience tells me that this item will not arrive anytime soon or not at all as it was despatched on the 4th October and as far as I can tell, the mail service in the UK does not have a service which takes 4 days to deliver, though of course I could be mistaken, but that is certainly not what is advertised in the local post offices.

Even allowing for a slight delay the estimated time of arrival is usually given to mean the very last day you can expect deliver under normal circumstances.  Well we are under normal circumstances and it is not here.  This is not the first time this has happened.  I am still awaiting delivery of Stranglehold for the PS3 which I ordered about three or four years ago now.  No doubt that provided a nice Christmas prezzie for someone.  I hope the fucking disc got scratched and blew their bastard console up!

The thing is, where does the blame lay with?  In my opinion the postage company.  Why?  Well, what sense would it make for the online store to tell me they had sent something that they hadn't?  If the item fails to arrive then they have to issue a replacement or a refund so it is hardly in their best interests to lie to their customers.

However where these online stores don't function is when it comes to none delivery.  If we accept that their estimated delivery date allows for delays then why do I have to wait a further 10 days before I can ask for a refund or replacement?  Just what do they expect is going to happen in those 10 days?  I miraculous change of heart from the criminal who stole the package?  Hardly, and what if the item was ordered specifically for a birthday or some other occasion?  That means that I would have to go out and buy the same said item again from the high street - probably pay more - then have to wait to get my money back for the item that never arrived, leaving me out of pocket for at least 15 days.  That is hardly fair is it?

It might be 'policy' but it is wrong.  If an item does not arrive by the estimated arrival date then you should have the right to cancel and get a full refund.  If the mail service is not good enough in this country (which it isn't by the way) then these large companies that effectively finance the mail firm should start to apply pressure in order to get a better service.  After all it is their customers who are let down.

Incoherent rant over.

AND THERE WAS ONE

I know it had to happen, but there is a great sadness seeing Paul Scholes and Gary Neville retiring this season.  Both have been Manchester United legends and simply they are irreplaceable.  I don't mean that ability wise they cannot be replaced, but in terms of the loyalty and dedication that they have shown to the club it will be nigh on impossible to find players in the transfer market that will show such loyalty.

I don't mean this as a slight against any other players out there, but it is simply a statement of truth.  These days loyalty always comes at a price and to expect to sign players that are not necessarily Manchester United fans and expect them to show the same loyalty to the club as Scholes and Neville have down the years is unreasonable.

The only player left from the class on 1992 is Ryan Giggs.  There is no doubting Giggs's legendary status but at the age of 37 he probably only has one season - two at the very maximum - left in him.  When he goes that is it.  The backbone of Fergie's successful side will be gone and the future success of the club will be down to players like Darren Fletcher, John O'Shea, Wes Brown and so on to carry on flying the flag for young players coming through the club.  There are other players like Darron Gibson, Tom Cleverly and Danny Welbeck to carry on the tradition of the club, but this means stepping up to a whole new level and it remains to be seen as to whether they can do that.  I for one hope they do.

What is clear is that Sir Alex will have to go into the transfer market in order to resolve the issues of the midfield and goal keeper.  The key question will be just how much money are the Glazer family going to allow Fergie to spend?  There is no doubt that the club cannot spend on cheap prospects in order to fill the gaps.

In any event it is going to be an interesting summer and perhaps the most important one for the club in recent years.