Budleigh Past and Present

He doesn’t have a black and white cat called Jess like Postman Pat, the character loved by kids all over the world who made his US television debut recently on children's network Qubo. And he laughs at the idea of using a gyrocopter and a Blackberry to deliver his letters, but Steve Harrison, our local postie has all the qualities which made Postman Pat everyone’s favourite mailman. And I reckon he must be 100 times fitter when I see him cycling up Exmouth Road. UK postal workers, it’s said, are living the nightmare of modernisation: job losses, closures and pensions at risk. But Steve keeps smiling. In a traditional town like Budleigh there is still an expectation of telephone boxes, village policemen and personal friendly service in local shops. And in our rural area the arrival of the postman does a little to reassure us that commitment and stability are still possible in the unstable and crazy world that we live in. You could say that the traditional postie is still at the ...