Save Your Post Office! I couldnt be much clearer about the part vinyl plays in keeping Holts post office going, could I? Ive moved the sign urging people to consider selling their unwanted vinyl from the front counter inside to the front window, and maybe it was this that encouraged a gentleman Id not seen before to bring in a largish collection yesterday, which I was pleased to purchase from him. I do not accept donations, since there are charity shops in the town for this purpose, but I can reassure everyone that if they sell their records to Holt Vinyl Vault, the additional income that will ultimately accrue will be pivotal in keeping the post office business afloat, for the benefit of all residents. How did we come to this? Well, on top of years of government negligence culminating in the criminal sell-off of the Royal Mail last autumn, just in the last few months in Holt we have lost our three largest mails customers, two through relocation to cheaper rented premises in Norwich and one through a defection to couriers. So this is yet another few thousand per year lost at the top end which must be replaced at the bottom end - though vinyl sales - if the business is to survive. The latest indignity heaped upon us through nefarious and ill-considered government manoeuvres involves having to process peoples direct debit applications for car tax, meaning that never again will they visit us to pay this duty. Its like being told that you must type out your own death notice in triplicate before you must face the firing squad. What am I supposed to say to such people? Thanks for your custom over the years, now go f.......orth and multiply? No, I often them the same briskly courteous service as anyone else, on the assumption that they know not what they do, and Ive hardly got the time to explain the consequence of their actions, have I? Or, most likely, I just put on another record to drown out the rubbishness of it all. Because, in Pete Townshends words, Its only by the music Ill be free. And how could one not feel a whiff of freedom at the start of another busy day when the Linn cranked up with The Best Of Little Walter (Chess), featuring the finest harmonica playing ever committed to vinyl, before being followed with The Worst Of Jefferson Airplane (RCA), with all its San Franciscan grooviness? And how could one not feel uplifted by the supreme Al Green, one of the greatest soul men, on his classic Hi outing from 75, Full Of Fire? Or indeed by the grandeur of Jimis Electric Ladyland, enjoyed again today on original Track? Or, even in the face of another disappointing English batting performance down in Sri Lanka, by the one and only Prince Busters Greatest Hits, nicely taking the sting out of the distressing developments charted on Test Match Special? So this is how we survive- and on our better days, thrive - down at Britains, or indeed the known worlds, grooviest post office. Any only a few more days of manic mono performance before The Serene Sarah joins in for super stereo sets in the run-up to Yuletide. But remember: like a dog, a post office is for life, not just for Christmas! Theres no fleas on Al, though: https://youtube/watch?v=8lTEIdnv_Js
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 19:42:44 +0000
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