Trolley 501

Picked up the first trolley of the second tranche of the first millennium yesterday morning, from the passage between Crystal Nails and Leightons (the people who do my spectacles and take fancy pictures of my eyeballs). Moved out into the street for the purposes of snapping it and then returned to the stack at Waitrose, in the Ashley Centre.

Being a bit short of time, carried on around the short Screwfix circuit, passing up the two trolleys which had arrived with the creationists in East Street.

But I did come across this advertisement for a two bedroom flat above the Costcutter that I use in Manor Green Road. And the butcher I use visible to the left of the gable. Off street parking, which is just as well, given all the cars parking through most of the day out front. We wonder about the noise, but perhaps modern double glazing units can cope with it.

While this morning, this advertisement managed to catch my eye by pretending to be notice of a delivery. I was not expecting a delivery and did not recognise the deliverer, but I still opened the email, just in case, before deleting it. Tiresome the way advertisements are inserting themselves into all sorts of nooks and crannies where you would rather they were not. One suspects Google and Microsoft of actively aiding and abetting all this: all revenue as far as they are concerned, even if they are bringing themselves into disrepute.

Which reminds me that, trying to find out about today's changes to postal rates, I found myself at the Daily Mirror website, so infested with advertisements that it was hard to find the copy. Eventually I found my way to the the Royal Mail website which explained that we had a year to use up our old stamps before we moved onto the new ones, YouTube enabled or some such thing. More tiresome advertisements. Still, at least we had the year, which was what was bothering BH, sitting on her small pile of old-speak stamps.

I think the reason it took me so long, was that I asked Bing about changes to postal rates - and it directed me to all kinds of revenue generating websites in preference to the Royal Mail one. As per the suspicions noted above. Just as when you ask it for the National Rail journey planner, as previously noticed.

From where I associate to another previous notice, the suggestion from an Irish barman in a box bar in Oxford Road in Reading, more than fifteen years ago now, that Internet search services were far too important to be left to private sector operators and ought to be public services, run for the public by the public. Funded by taxation, not by advertisements. That is to say by direct, honest taxation, rather than by taxation sneaked into higher prices for things which we buy.

References 

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/03/trolley-500.html.

Reference 2: https://www.royalmail.com/.