Wednesday 18 September 2013

Postal Orders


So. What I want to know is, when the Royal Mail gets privatised, will it still be the Royal Mail? Presumably not. I can't find a news item or discussion that even mentions it in passing, but don't we think it's important? You know what will happen. It'll be called something crass like Post For Yoo-Hoo; after all, look at the high level of thinking behind the moronic and quickly dispensed with 'Consignia'. And not being the Royal Mail means we won't see the reigning monarch's cipher cast into the iron. I think I'm right in saying that there's a dictat ( probably stuffed behind a radiator at Mount Pleasant Sorting Office) that they will always be painted red, like London buses. But you never know what mindlessness can beset those responsible for looking after our visual environment. The pillar box above is in Letchworth, the first garden city. Looking around, the colour that predominates in the leafy streets, apart from the cream renders and burnt orange tile hanging, is green. Green leaves, green trees, green lawns and the original Letchworth green doors, drainpipes and garden gates. So what colour did the council, unencumbered with any thought concerning their fabulous heritage, order the wheelie bins in? Of course. A mind-numbing shade of purple. 



5 comments:

C said...

I've just arrived here, and pleased to see a new post (no pun intended), lovely blog!

I've been wondering the same about the name. You may regret mentioning Post For Yoo-hoo - I think they might nab it, only it'll be spelt Post-4-U-Hoo (with smiley faces in the 'O's).

Anna said...

I've also been wondering about this. Your tags made me laugh!

Peter Ashley said...

Welcome to Unmitigated England C, thankyou Anna.

Gawain said...

But in fact, in the early days of bus tendering in London, buses did NOT have to be red or even predominantly red; the first tendered service, the 24, was operated by Grey-Green in their livery of, you guessed it, grey and green. After a while London transport realised that people, especially visitors, were having trouble working out what was an LT service and what was not. So then all tendered services had to bear a vinyl on the front with a picture of the roundel and the word BUS on it in big letters.

Only later did the must-be-red dictate come in.

One could weep.

t

Peter Ashley said...

Thankyou Gawain. I do hope you're not an advocate of buses in London being able to be in whatever lurid livery they like? At least with an all-red policy (as right for London as black cabs)we are spared the sight of Arriva's usual banal paint jobs.