'1824 - Life is but a moment' (From Gazette & Herald)

'1824 - Life is but a moment'

UNDERSTANDING government thinking is an impossibility when one looks at the Royal Mail, which is a government-owned plc. Current policy is aimed at an 80pc increase in rail freight by 2010, which sounds like a good idea, and currently the Royal Mail carries 14pc of all long-distance mail on 49 trains. So happy were the Royal Mail people, that in the 1990s they invested £170mi in new facilities on the railways. Now they've decided that they are to scrap their entire rail distribution network by March 2004, with most of the business going on the roads.

The transport unions tell us that the trains will be replaced by 500 HGV movements each day, a total of 122,000 vehicle miles a day or 305m miles a year. By now, the financial advantage of the move from rail to road seems to have disappeared, at the same time adding 15,000 tonnes of atmospheric pollution, and with the Government's forecast that road traffic will increase, it seems peculiar that it should wish to add to it. Royal Mail seems to realise that its delivery performance is going to suffer, for its has been making surveys of big users, which currently most people appear happy with. Yet if the 125mph trains are to be replaced by 60mph lorries then I can't see any sense in it.

These figures appeared in what used to be a cyclists magazine, which later started to embrace any means of alternative travel other than the car, and changed its name to 'A to B'. A good bi-monthly read if you like to know what's going on.

I had an impressive, cream-tinted envelope arrive this week containing an invitation card, headed, I thought, St James Palace, and I quickly thought: "Who lives there?" On closer inspection the word 'Palace' only had one 'A' in it, which made it 'Place', which solved all the speculation. A presentation no less on tax planning, or to quote the invitation: "What do we do with our wealth now?" Obviously not intended for me, despite the fact that those of us over 65 could be entitled to a new Pension Credit from October 6. There appears to be no less than £2 billion waiting to be claimed before October 2004, and we are assured that it is an 'entitlement' and not a 'benefit'. Octobers' SAGA Magazine spells it all out if you want to know more.

A most interesting letter this week from Robert Ford of Lealholm, who is a Gazette & Herald reader. He draws attention to stonemasons, to the legacy they have left behind for us, and to the fact that so many of them apart from being skilled craftsmen, were in fact, deep thinkers too. In Westerdale, Robert tells of a stone above the turf house with the words: "Whatsoever thou taketh in hand, remember thy end". In Farndale, on a door lintel, are the words "1824 - Life is but a moment", and near the entrance to Great Fryup Dale a stone, almost hidden by long grass, carries the words: "1936. Six gates in the next mile. A nuisance proved. Landlords, tenants and kind donors had them removed. Use well time saved". Robert reminds us that there are many comments wherever one looks in our dales, chiselled out by these craftsmen of old, on bridges and culverts, lintels and standing stones, not to mention the mile upon mile of stone walls still standing through the years. It seems incumbent upon us that we should remember them from time to time. Thank you Robert for your most interesting and thoughtful letter. Your handwriting tells me that you perhaps have known these writings for many many years, and I am delighted that you have been able to put your thoughts on paper at this time so that, now, they will never be forgotten.

Is there anywhere else on this globe, where the car-driving abilities of people in charge of their motor vehicle, is as bad as it is in the UK. The ability to control the vehicle in reverse is something which the majority avoid like the plague, and the lazy, dangerous current habit of driving up the kerb, when parking, seems to have become the norm.

Having a cuppa in a Wheelgate cafe one can watch the parking antics, when even driving into an unrestricted space, the driver takes the front wheel up onto the footpath, which is neither good for tyres or pedestrians, and I don't just mean little old ladies who can't see over the steering wheel, or without power-steering.

A recent hold-up resulted in East Mount being chock-a-block with cars which just weren't going anywhere. There was a necessity for a change of direction and of finding an alternative route. This, in other words, meant turning round. I watched 21 cars turn round. Not one did it right. Each drove into someone's gateway and backed out on to the main road. We are back to this fear of reversing again, despite the fact that a reverse movement still had to take place. I expect the majority had driving lessons, passed a Ministry test, Do such things as changes of direction come into the test these days? No use dualling the A64 is it, until people can drive properly!

Taken from actual officer performance appraisals: "This young lady has delusions of adequacy."

Updated: 12:07 Wednesday, October 15, 2003