Hooray

At last a 'ceasefire' or should that be a cease-strike in the post dispute.
The latest round of strikes has been called off with a promise of no more until next year if a settlement has not been reached. There's still a back log to be cleared so there will still be some delays; but with luck back to normal soon.

CJS Weekly - collection

At last a little red van has arrived and CJS Weekly is now being loaded up and is finally on its way out. All being well it will arrive in the next day or so. If it doesn't, or you can't wait, please contact us for the temporary details to get copies form the website.

Post

Sorry, folks, the post that was due to be collected on Saturday is still sitting waiting. That means your copy of CJS Weekly is still here. As yet, we've been unable to find out when the post will be collected. When we know more, we'll let you know too.

Latest Strike action

Postal workers are on strike today for three days, the information from Royal mail and CWU differs slightly but both agree that workers are on strike.
Deliveries and collections will be affected.

Post update

Well, our mail was collected as normal on Saturday so, in theory, your copy of CJS Weekly is on its way to you. If for any reason it doesn't reach you please contact us for temporary details to download this week's edition from the website.

Weekly update

The first marsh tit was seen around and about this week and the feeders have been overflowing with birds. The goldfinches squabble for space, the tits queue up patiently and wait their turn and the spuggies hoover up whatever drops and the dogs clear up anything they miss.

It's been interesting with the threatened and now happening postal strikes, a huge heap of mail on Tuesday then very little and of course today nothing. There are reported delays to 40% of mail according to Royal Mail. CJS Weekly is printing and will be dispatched from here as usual, collection is due tomorrow (and should happen) but it's bound to get stuck in the back log. So don't forget if your copy is one of the many stuck in a heap somewhere you can contact us to obtain an electronic one. This week there are 74 new paid posts, 45 direct to CJS over 11 pages.

Strikes - rats...

It's official. Postal workers will strike nationally, starting from Thursday 22 October. No real details yet. Keep in touch online at: http://www.countryside-jobs.com/CJS_Stuff/royal_mail.htm

Fingers crossed

Keep your fingers crossed. Today's the day CWU (postal workers union) are due to due to announce when, how much and where any strike action is going to take place. With luck it will be kept to a minimum but even if it is, as predicted, wide spread and prolonged we'll do our best to keep disruption to you as little as we're able.

More Royal Mail news

Ok, after a hurriedly scrambled staff meeting emergency plans are now in place and will be implemented as and when required.
For digital readers there will be very little change but even so there will be an indirect knock on effect which affects CJS in general and therefore digital subscribers.
First, we receive many publications by post and these will inevitably be late / not arrive which may result in a reduced digest section of CJS Weekly.
Second, subscriptions by post will be delayed both to you from us and any subs you send to us. For the duration we recommend that you subscribe online or over the phone.
And third, a major headache for us but not so much for readers will be the accounts - invoices and remittances sent by post, this is bound to cause untold problems ( a cheque sent to The Independent in London on 17/9 has still not been received so what will a complete walkout cause?).

What can you do? Please be patient, we do have plans to make sure as many of you as possible receive your copies; we will let you know when they're implemented and we'll try to keep you up to date with events here.

When the strike dates are announced, probably on Monday, we'll look at exactly how long the strikes will last and then we'll let you know exactly how what's going to happen with CJS.

All, in all then, more work, longer hours and frazzled CJS staff. Thanks a lot CWU.

PS who's buying the chocolate biscuits this time??

Royal Mail strikes again.

Oh goodie, they're at it again!
It's been confirmed that Royal Mail workers have voted for strike action, see the BBC for more details. http://bit.ly/2msKHA Exact dates and types of industrial action are yet to be confirmed but we're taking no chances.
To find out what's going on and how CJS will / is affected please read the updates both on this blog and on the main site, click here

Royal Mail strikes?

It seems likely that we're in for a winter of strike action from postal workers. Some areas have already been badly affected with many million items of post sitting in the back log and today it's been reported that as many as one in every eight items of post arrives late. This is bound to have affected delivery of some copies of CJS, if yours is one of them please contact us and we'll give you temporary access details to download the current edition from the website.

To read the latest: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8259867.stm

Another edition

Should now be with subscribers - Royal Mail permitting, threats of more strike action of the weekend and a ballot on national strike action is looking likely. We'll keep you up to date with how any action affects CJS.
The seasons have definitely turned - on last Thursday morning the wire on the top of the field fence was lined with 60-70 swallows, the final muster of the summer, sure enough by tea time they'd all gone and now there are just the odd one or two martins. Over the weekend the first geese skeins have been sighted, and yesterday Maia picked up the first conker of the season, I managed to make her drop it before she crunched it up and ate it - next will be the fly agaric, she's a very strange dog (even more so after the fungi...!).

CJS Monthly

Out today. Paper editions should arrive in today's post, the digital version is already online.
The series of strikes by workers at Royal mail has reported caused a backlog of 2 million items. It's quite likely that some copies of CJS are caught up in this. If yours is one of them then please contact us for details of how else you can obtain an up to date copy.

Here we go again

Just popped up on the BBC, Postal workers to stage strikes. Strike will be on Friday, Saturday and Monday; at the moment it doesn't seem as if we will be directly affected this time but it will probably delay some copies of CJS on route.

Rad more here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8186922.stm

As ever we'll keep you updated as we find out more.

Here we go again

Just popped up on the BBC, Postal workers to stage strikes on Friday, Saturday and Monday. It doesn't seem as we will be directly affected this time but it will probably delay some copies of CJS on route.

Rad more here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8186922.stm

As ever we'll kepp you updated as we find out more.

CJS Weekly - left Goathland

Well, our post was collected as usual on Saturday. Now it's all up to what happens on route to you. If you don't receive your copy today then please contact us quoting your CJS number and we'll let you know how to get hold of a copy.

Royal Mail - delays possible.

It's the summer silly season and Royal Mail workers are threatening strike action. Some parts of London have already been affected and nationwide action is forecast for later this week starting on Friday. This of course will affect CJS, some publications on subscription will not reach us on time and the outbound post including your copy of CJS Weekly may be delayed. The late receipt of publications should not cause too many problems however if our post collection is late we will make alternative arrangements for postal subscribers.
As ever we will keep you up to date online via the blog and news releases.
If you are in an area affected and don't receive your CJS Weekly then please contact us quoting your CJS number (preferably by email) and we will let you know how to access a copy online.

2000 jobs!

Since January 2009 CJS Weekly has carried adverts for over 2000 new, not previously advertised, paid UK countryside, conservation jobs. Not forgetting the voluntary and training opportunities too! Monday's edition is already online and will soon be printed ready for mailing. This week it's 10 pages with 79 new paid posts, 51 of which came direct to CJS.
The local Royal Mail offices are being reorganised and the the collection of your CJS from the offices is changing - we have everything crossed that there are no hitches (!). Troublesome sagas continue with BT, we thought it was all solved and everything back to normal but then we got a letter requesting bank details for the direct debit for the new Rent-a-Ranger phone account, after quite a while listening to lovely canned musak a real person assures us that the direct debit has been set up and it is for the correct BT and bank accounts - watch this space. But remember if one day you can't reach us by phone you'll know that it really did go pineapple shaped (10 times worse then pears) and they've cut us off.
This week the owl has been back on the telephone wires, but we think it's one of last year's youngsters as it's a bit smaller and the colouring is paler. Last night it was considering bat for dinner (or should that me breakfast?). There were two pipestrelles flying around the eaves and one was definitely chasing the other. We're not sure what was going on as they're both the same size and have been seen in proximity before - if you have any suggestions please let us know.

Post and search engines

We're always ready to grumble about Royal Mail well here's a nice story for a change. Earlier this week the post was dropped in as usual at around 9.30. Later in the day the door bell rang and there was the postie, he'd found a letter for us tucked into another bundle further on in his round. He put it to one side and called in to drop it off before going back to the sorting office. Well done Ray, thank you.

In these credit crunched days it often feels more difficult to make a difference. Well here's a way that doesn't cost a thing and you can make a huge difference. We've added an Everyclick search engine to the website, every search raises one penny for good causes; we chose the Hawk & Owl Trust as a small but worthy cause and one we've worked with in the past. So give a go and 'give your mouse a heart'.

CJS Weekly 20 October edition is now printing. As it's the third week of the month it contains the Training Calendar which is three pages long, there are nine pages (plus the three of training) containing 53 new paid posts of which 28 were sent direct to CJS.

CJS Weekly - no collection.

We discovered this morning that Royal Mail did not collect our post on Saturday. To say we're not happy would be a major understatement. A formal complaint has been made to RM so we expect a book of stamps in recompense.
Our usual postie is on holiday and the replacement is less than useless, we've received post for another business down the road, and only two letters this morning (we usually receive around 20-30 on a Monday), added to which he virtually refused to take our mail and eventually did so grudgingly.
So apologies from CJS, we hope (fingers crossed) that your copies of CJS Weekly are with you soon. If you're one of the unlucky ones and have not yet received your copy then if you'd like to contact us we will provide you with temporary details to access the digital version.