rory's blog

My Mother bought a new laptop, so she gave me back the Dell Inspiron 3800. I downloaded Slackware 11.0 and put it on it and even got my wifi (Netgear WAG511) working with the madwifi drivers. I have WPA on it to boot! It's tons better than Windoze.

To stop junk mail you go to the Mail Preference Service, this will stop all direct mail that is addressed to you. From this link you will also find the telephone preference service. However this won't stop all those unaddressed mail items...

To stop about 25% of unaddressed mail which is delivered to you by the Royal Mail write to:

Door-to-Door Opt Out
Royal Mail
Kingmead House
Oxpens Road
Oxford
OX1 1RX

optout@royalmail.co.uk
Tel.: 08457 740 740

If you do this they will merely send you the email below, so do yourself a favour and print it out, fill it in and send it off. I think it's a bit much that it isn't freepost!

Dear Customer
Thank you for your recent correspondence. I understand from your
letter/telephone call that you are considering “Opting Out” of receiving
Door to Door items. As a company we are quite happy to put the wheels in
motion to arrange the cessation of these deliveries to your premises but
before doing so, I need to make you fully aware of the implications of
“Opting Out” and once you have considered these, get your final written
authorisation to cease deliveries of this nature.
The main areas to be considered are:
· This service only relates to unaddressed mail. Mail bearing your
address and “To the Occupier” or any other generic recipient information,
Royal Mail is still legally obliged to deliver.
· It is not possible for us to separate advertising material and
information that you may want, such as leaflets from Central and Local
Government and other public bodies. Opting out from Royal Mail Door to Door
stops all unaddressed items.
· Opting out means no one at the Delivery point will receive mail of this
nature, is this acceptable to everyone inhabiting the property?
· If you simply want to reduce the amount of direct mail addressed in full
to yourself you can do so by registering with The Mailing Preference
Service. They can limit or reduce targeted direct mail by up to 90%. To
obtain an information pack please contact them at:
MPS, DMA House, 70 Margaret St., LONDON, W1W 8SS
www.mpsonline.org.uk
If you still wish to Opt Out of receiving Door to Door, please complete the
form enclosed and return it to the above address and we will process your
request. Every effort will be made to prevent the delivery of Door-to-Door
items by Royal Mail. Exceptionally, if relief staff are used, an
occasional delivery may occur.
Please be advised that it may take up to 6 weeks or more for the
implementation of unaddressed mail to not be delivered by Royal Mail.
Finally, there are, a number of other companies that deliver material
through your letterbox. We have no control over their actions. Again, the
Mailing Preference Service, can offer advice on firms operating in your
area:
Yours sincerely
Barbara Miller
Barbara Miller
Opt Out Co-ordinator
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| ‘Stop Door to Door’ Confirmation Form |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|--------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| To:| Door to Door Opt Outs |
|--------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | Royal Mail Door to Door |
| | Kingsmead House |
| | Oxpens Road |
| | OXFORD |
| | OX1 1RX |
|--------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | |
|--------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| From:| |
|--------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Address:| |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| Postcode:| |
|--------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| | |
|--------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Reference:| Request to stop Door to Door mail being delivered to my address |
|--------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------|
I confirm that I have read and fully understood your letter advising me of
the implications of “Opting-Out” of receiving deliveries of Royal Mail
unaddressed ‘Door to Door’ items to my address.
I understand that I may miss important information from local, national or
government publications that are sent using this service.
From time to time, Royal Mail would like to contact you with information
about our products and services that may be of interest to you. If you do
not want to be contacted, please tick here.
Name:
Signature: Date: /
/20
**********************************************************************
This email and any attachments are
confidential and intended for the addressee
only. If you are not the named recipient,
you must not use, disclose, reproduce, copy
or distribute the contents of this
communication. If you have received this in
error, please contact the sender and then
delete this email from your system.
**********************************************************************

Here is an Evening Standard article about the recent assault. I don't know why they didn't publish the photo with the employee of C2C with his hands around the neck of the man who evaded his fare.

On Friday evening a friend of mine witnessed an assault by some employees of C2C at Southend East train station. The pictures depict what happens to you if you don't have a ticket. Here is a copy of the letter that Chris sent to the Evening Echo:

Please find herewith pictures I took with my mobile phones at approximately 6.25 yesterday inside the Riviera Drive entrance to Southend East Station.

The pictures clearly show members of C2C staff using an inappropriate restraining method against a passenger who allegedly had not paid his fare.

The method used - holding the man with 2 hands round his throat in addition to pinning his arms, legs and torso was inappropriate and not consistent with approved Contol and Restraint Procedeures.- the gentleman was panicking and was visibly experiencing problems with his breathing trying to get into a position which would relax the grip on his windpipe. There was no reaction to this from the C2C staff restraining him though this was evident to several passing passengers disembarking from the 5.30 from Fenchurch Street.

When several passengers including myself attempted to intervene we were told it was none of our business and that we should go away.
The C2C staff were handling the man very roughly and were also using inappropriate language in a threatening way at a low volume presumably to minimise the risk of being overheard by too many passing commuters.

I clearly heard the phrase “ Go on bite me you bastard” - presumably due to the way the gentleman under restraint was attempting to avoid the p[ressure on his throat from two hands held arround his throut and also the words “ We will have you under the counter terrorism act”. The second comment seemed to cause other members of the C2C staff present some particular amusement.
Throughout the episode the C2C staff were rude and dismissive to several passengers who tried to reason with them about the level of force being used. The C2C staff refused on several occasions to give their names and at least one member of staff turned his back so that his photo could not be taken when he became aware that mobile phone cameras were being used by passengers to record the incident. This is clearly a sign of guilt. In contrast the gentleman under restraint was calling to passing passsengers to assist him and seemed relieved by their attempted intervention.

The whole thing was highly unacceptable and the treatment of this gentlemen by C2C staff was grossly out of proportion.
One must also speculate whether the reaction from C2C staff would have been the same had the gentleman been of indigenous white extraction....

Another year and yet another beer festival. I went over the St Albans Beer Festival on Friday lunch time (by train) and returned home on Saturday afternoon. All in all it was a very good event and I imbibed the following: