Alan Johnson on Christmas as a postman

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/201 ... as-postman" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Christmas was always a special time – we battled to process the tidal wave of mail that washed up in our sorting office.


BY ALAN JOHNSON PUBLISHED 19 DECEMBER, 2014 - 16:05


I recently entered a closed world, a part of London’s infrastructure that has existed for 87 years but that few Londoners have ever seen. The Post Office Railway (or “Mail Rail”, as it later became known) was opened in 1927. Its purpose was to avoid the congestion on London’s streets by transporting mail speedily from sorting offices to the mainline rail network via the Post Office’s very own Tube system. Its driverless trains on two-foot-gauge tracks could cross the capital from Liverpool Street to Paddington in just 14 minutes.

Mothballed since 2003 after the main rail hub was moved to Willesden, it is to be developed into part of the British Postal Museum and Archive. I’d been invited to join the last group to visit the control centre at Mount Pleasant in Farringdon before the two-year task of restoration begins.

We descended into a subterranean landscape that had remained frozen in time since the last shift left. A Royal Mail jacket was draped across the back of a chair; a mug rested on the workbench where it had last been emptied; on the noticeboard was an update from my union on the Sars outbreak – the viral respiratory disease that worried the world 11 years ago.

At its zenith, Mail Rail ran for 22 hours a day and employed 200 staff. Now our footsteps echoed down its ghostly tunnels as it awaits discovery at last by what I’m sure will be an appreciative public.



Commercial casualty
Christmas was always a special time when I was a postman. Our ranks were swelled by a huge influx of Christmas casuals as we battled to process the tidal wave of mail that washed up in our sorting office. I’ve lost count of the number of people eager to tell me that they, too, were once postal workers but who, upon further inquiry, turned out to have been a casual during their student days.

Perhaps Vince Cable was a casual. Used as an adverb rather than a noun, it certainly describes the way he sold off a great public service. And his dismissal of the concerns expressed by Royal Mail’s chief executive, Moya Greene, about the threat to its universal service obligation was casual to be sure. He accused her of “scaremongering” for pointing out that the company will not be able to deliver mail to every address, no matter how remote, six days a week, for a single price if unregulated competition continues to cherry-pick its most lucrative customers. Royal Mail should never have been broken up and privatised. Vince Cable, as the architect of that policy, needs at least to ensure that the universal service doesn’t follow Mail Rail into extinction.

[wabbithunta]

http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/201 ... as-postman

Christmas was always a special time – we battled to process the tidal wave of mail that washed up in our sorting office.


BY ALAN JOHNSON PUBLISHED 19 DECEMBER, 2014 - 16:05


I recently entered a closed world, a part of London’s infrastructure that has existed for 87 years but that few Londoners have ever seen. The Post Office Railway (or “Mail Rail”, as it later became known) was opened in 1927. Its purpose was to avoid the congestion on London’s streets by transporting mail speedily from sorting offices to the mainline rail network via the Post Office’s very own Tube system. Its driverless trains on two-foot-gauge tracks could cross the capital from Liverpool Street to Paddington in just 14 minutes.

Mothballed since 2003 after the main rail hub was moved to Willesden, it is to be developed into part of the British Postal Museum and Archive. I’d been invited to join the last group to visit the control centre at Mount Pleasant in Farringdon before the two-year task of restoration begins.

We descended into a subterranean landscape that had remained frozen in time since the last shift left. A Royal Mail jacket was draped across the back of a chair; a mug rested on the workbench where it had last been emptied; on the noticeboard was an update from my union on the Sars outbreak – the viral respiratory disease that worried the world 11 years ago.

At its zenith, Mail Rail ran for 22 hours a day and employed 200 staff. Now our footsteps echoed down its ghostly tunnels as it awaits discovery at last by what I’m sure will be an appreciative public.



Commercial casualty
Christmas was always a special time when I was a postman. Our ranks were swelled by a huge influx of Christmas casuals as we battled to process the tidal wave of mail that washed up in our sorting office. I’ve lost count of the number of people eager to tell me that they, too, were once postal workers but who, upon further inquiry, turned out to have been a casual during their student days.

Perhaps Vince Cable was a casual. Used as an adverb rather than a noun, it certainly describes the way he sold off a great public service. And his dismissal of the concerns expressed by Royal Mail’s chief executive, Moya Greene, about the threat to its universal service obligation was casual to be sure. He accused her of “scaremongering” for pointing out that the company will not be able to deliver mail to every address, no matter how remote, six days a week, for a single price if unregulated competition continues to cherry-pick its most lucrative customers. Royal Mail should never have been broken up and privatised. Vince Cable, as the architect of that policy, needs at least to ensure that the universal service doesn’t follow Mail Rail into extinction.

Well said, that man.

[Red Robbo]

Has he written a book recently ?

[aiden01]

Has he written a book recently ?

yes

[baldrick]

Has he written a book recently ?

yes

Two in the last year. Obviously has a lot of time on his hands. And they say MPs work hard.

[PostieSP1]

Alan Johnson needs to replace Moya if we have any hope,someone who kinda knows what being a Postie is about!

More dosh too then he's currently on!

[cyclemech1]

Alan Johnson needs to replace Moya if we have any hope,someone who kinda knows what being a Postie is about!

More dosh too then he's currently on!

He hasn't got a clue. The last time he was a postie was about 40 years ago, and in London as well, he probably still thinks that you all start at 5am and finish by 11am!

[janitor]

Bit like the top brass isn't the Union then.

[baldrick]

Alan Johnson needs to replace Moya if we have any hope,someone who kinda knows what being a Postie is about!
More dosh too then he's currently on!

He hasn't got a clue. The last time he was a postie was about 40 years ago, and in London as well, he probably still thinks that you all start at 5am and finish by 11am!

He didn't work in London, iirc it was Kingston-on-Thames which is in Surrey.

[Red Robbo]

What CWU branch did he belong to then ?

[Martin Walsh]

He started off in Barnes SW13 and then moved to Paddington and then to Slough where he the Branch Secretary and moved them all to a monday-friday duty with Saturday being covered on SA.

[baldrick]

Ah thanks dingo, yes I remember something about Slough now, but that isn't London, but Bucks.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

He started off in Barnes SW13 and then moved to Paddington and then to Slough where he the Branch Secretary and moved them all to a monday-friday duty with Saturday being covered on SA.

So he's to blame

Just Joking - but there are new starters being press-ganged into doing this type of shift and I wondered what are the implications, can they withdraw or are they locked into a 6 day schedule without recourse to anything.

[El-Bandito]

Alan Johnson can spout on and on about Vince Cable.His party were going to do the same thing. The only political party that has stated they would re-nationalise Royal Mail are the SNP. Ask the candidates when they come begging for your vote next Spring,what their party's plan is for RM.The odds will be they will say our hands are tied blah blah blah. They wonder why no-one with common sense are voting for the mainstream political parties.
Merry Christmas All

[fishtank]

To Alan Johnson the union was just another rung in the ladder which he happily pulled up behind him, Don't let the (very) humble beginnings fool you, He's about as working class socialist as Tony Blair's accountant.