I feel the need to have a bit of a rant regarding the current state of the Royal Mail postal service! I don't know how reliable it is for you chaps but around here in the Medway area of Kent it is appalling, no other word for it. I'm not knocking the individual posties for one moment, but the reliability of the service is very patchy and they will admit that they are unable to maintain a daily delivery service and that agency and courier staff are employed to cover some weekends. I have had several examples of poor service in the last couple of weeks alone. Firstly, a 10 day wait for a first class signed for package posted to me by Old John and containing a Graham Farish 0-6-0 tank locomotive purchased on my behalf from John's friends shop. When it failed to arrive I checked the tracker which showed a failed delivery attempt on the Sunday (!) with no card left. I was in all day that day and mostly sat painting by the window and with Poppy the dog in the room who always barks when the door knocks. I duly booked a redelivery for the Thursday, waited in and again it failed to arrive. This left me having to wait over Easter thinking it would be delivered on the Tuesday but again nothing. On Wednesday I managed to catch the postman who suggested I rebook again but said he would check at the delivery office. On Thursday he pulled up in his van at 3.40pm and knocked on the door saying "I think this is what you have been waiting for". This was a great relief to me and also to John and his wife Cynthia (who had posted the package), and I know it caused them a lot of stress and worry.
In addition to the above a package from eBay due to be delivered on a Thursday arrived on the following Monday and this last week a 1st class letter posted to me on the previous Wednesday was delivered on Monday. I think you will agree this is a rather shoddy state of affairs.
Creating terrain tiles for 'Battle Cry'.
With the PVC game mat now on order from Tinywargames I have been thinking about putting together other components required for the game. I have sourced the rules from the 150th Anniversary Edition, a printer friendly set of replacement command cards and even printable patches for the dice. Now to the question of terrain tiles. My idea has been to print the tiles and glue to 75mm MDF hexes, it is possible to find the original tile designs but I want to make my own using satellite or drone images. I have had some success in this, a few examples/ideas you can see below including woods, corn and wheat fields etc. I also have hilltops and roads rivers etc. It's a fun exercise and I hope to have something ready to print by the weekend. My main issue is finding a suitable town hex design but I have some ideas. In sharing a few example images I should state that all are readily found on Google and will only be used for my personal use.
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| Wheatfield? |
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| Cornfield? |
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| 'Unofficial' BC tile. |
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| Unofficial 'Dunker Church' |
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| I like this for woods. |
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| 'Peach Orchard' |
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| Wheatfield. |
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The Royal Mail at Catterick Garrison / Richmond North Yorkshire is comparable to your experience, unfortunately. Like yourself, I'm not finding fault with the individuals doing the job who we interact with, as they do a good job under trying (and over-burdening) circumstances. We're lucky if we receive a postal service three days out of six. I had a moan about this issue, the other week, on the Pendraken Miniatures Forum and found others experience the same issues in other parts of England. I, also, find the Royal Mail track and trace system on their website very frustrating and hit-and-miss when trying to receive information on expected (or, even, confirmed received) deliveries.
ReplyDeleteThis is the first time I've left a comment on your blog, though I am a (silent) long term reader and follower.
Hello Roy and thank you for your comment. Interesting to hear that this is an experience shared by other parts of the country although not surprising. Time was when you could phone a local sorting office with an enquiry re a non delivery and speak to a helpful human being! The frustration of trying to use the automated system - all enquiries now connect only to this system - is infuriating and a complete waste of time. Non delivery days are common too. That said everything does arrive eventually, but 4 working days for a 1st class letter is pushing it :)
DeleteCheers,
Lee.
On two recent Royal Mail deliveries, I wonder whether if the miss the original delivery date on say something like Mail 48, instead of being obliged to deliver the next day, they just ignore it with a sentiment of ‘may as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb’ and instead focus their efforts on trying to ensure the timeliness of other obligations ….. such as Mail 48 that is due that day!
ReplyDeletethe terrain tiles are looking great.
Hi Norm. I honestly thought that expensive little loco was a write off and was very relieved when the smiling postie finally turned up with it. I had no 'failed delivery' card to collect it as one was not left, and I doubt that delivery was even attempted as postie told me they have to use agency staff to cover weekends and that they are completely unreliable. No wonder other delivery services are taking the business from RM.
DeleteHaving fun with the tiles and it will be good to have a compact wargame that will enable me to push some soldiers around the board while my terrain efforts are put into the modest railway project. Have you heard of the 'Inglenook shunting puzzle layout'? This young guy was the inspiration for me and I'm doing much the same. https://youtu.be/d4ckcj0yck0?si=7qFoJAbPWiODGLkS
All the best,
Lee.
The mail up here in the far north of Scotland is similar to what you have been experiencing, really hit and miss, sometimes goes like a dream and then not so!! Liking the ideas for terrain tiles, some interesting ideas, I think the top down views will really work well for your project.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, it’s not just Royal Mail. I recently bought a book - the tracker said the item was collected on the Wednesday. And it was eventually delivered the following Wednesday.
ReplyDeleteStill, even if it was collected at the end of the day on Wednesday, they had the package Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday (even if they don’t “deliver” at the weekend the package should still be “in the system” somewhere, heading toward its destination) and Monday & Tuesday and was finally delivered after 3pm on the Wednesday. Jeez - I could have walked to pick up the book and still arrived back home quicker than this ☹️🤬
Back to Royal Mail - as you say, the individuals are generally doing a decent job but with regards to Management that clearly leaves a lot to be desired. Perhaps all the “top bods” at RM are all busy explaining what they knew r didn’t know. Poor, poor treatment of the sub postmasters- absolutely shameful.
Top management at RM? Either they knew what was actually happening (but we’re still OK with people being sent to prison for something that was actually the “fault” of the Horizon software) or the genuinely didn’t know what was actually happening (which begs the question of what we’re they doing to justify their large salaries if they “didn’t understand” things?). Which is it?
Good luck with your terrain. I’ll be interested to see how you get on.
Cheers,
Geoff