How often should you update a Blog?

Well... what's the answer? Once a day? Once a week? Once a month? Once a decade ???

Hmmm, there's no real set rule about this and I don't think there ever will be. I suppose that's good. However, if you can keep to a decent posting schedule, then that's great. Regular readers will always know when you have something new to say and it is probably better for the mysterious Google Search Engine also. If you don't update your blog regularly, then people may give it up for dead. Bad news.

However... it's not good to force yourself to Blog when you haven't really anything of interest to say. That's just going to annoy people. Well, it might interest masochists. Um, if you write a masochists blog then that's probably ok.

So... how have I done in 2009? Well, not that well really. I had planed to update regularly and in some parts of the year was pretty successful. Other parts, the blog did look a bit dead and on my return there were quite a few cobwebs about the place.

US President Barack Obama gave himself a B+ on his first year in office. Seeing as we are now allowed to mark ourselves, erm, I'm giving myself a B+ also.

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www.jenkin7.co.uk - www.jenkin7.com
Giftware & Collectables

Royal Mail - Free Address / Postcode Checker

A handy online tool this that not many people seem to know about.

Have you ever sold something online maybe on eBay, eBid or just had to post something somewhere? If so, you have surely at least once been in the position where the address you've been given to send the thing to doesn't quite look right. It's amazing how many people do not seem to be able to input their exact address correctly. Of course, you email the intended recipient with no response so post anyway hoping for the best.

This is not good.

Fear not, the Royal Mail now have a FREE postcode / address checking tool online!

Checking Tool

To avoid abuse, the tool has a restricted daily use of 15 entries a day. It is extremely unlikely that you will be exceeding this with most people using it just once in a blue moon.

Hats off to the Royal Mail on this one. Not only does it give the Parcel sender added confidence in the mail service, but also cuts down on Missing item Claims also.

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www.jenkin7.co.uk

The Glamour of the Post Office Queue

There was a time, when if you timed it right, the Post Office queues were relatively short. Oh, how times have changed!

Many smaller Sub-post offices have now closed in a UK Country wide cost cutting exercise. The Post Office now offer more products and services than any ever before in order to try and make a profit. Well... you can't blame them, they are a business after all.

But where does that leave the queuing customer? Well, to start off with, about half an hour away. It's now 1 queue for everything it seems, many queues merged into one, a single Post Office now serving a much greater number of people... or trying to.

I stand in the queue with my three parcels. I am behind Pensioners collecting their Pension, Driving License renewals, Fishing License applications, Stamp buyers, Passport applications, a complaint about Internet Broadband, some one with thee bags of parcels, somebody wanting Foreign currency, Parcel Collectors, and the list goes on.

20 minutes in, a Pensioner (male) taps me on the shoulder. "If it weren't for people like you, we'd get served in half the time."

Excellent. If he hadn't of been 302 years old, I would have punched him on the nose. To weigh and stamp three parcels doesn't take any time at all. I could have countered, "If all Pensioners had their Pension paid directly into their Bank Account, other queuers wouldn't be quite so harassed all the time." But what would have been the point? I still would have had to stand next to the chap for the next 10minutes and one gets the feeling he would have got worse.

It's all now a question of patience of course. Some people just have a lot more than others.

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