French is the official language of the Universal Postal Union (UPU). Since Rene Descartes, the French have always described all manner of existence and meaning of life by putting things in boxes - but not post boxes. This explains perhaps why mail for the BES islands should now be addressed as ‘Caribbean part of the Netherlands (Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba).’
Ever heard of anything so bureaucratic and senseless?
Outside of this column, we live in an age where the written word is communicated daily by 2DAY, CU, L8R and RUOK? Or how about ROFL?
Am I Rolling On the Floor Laughing? Absolutely not. Information technology has replaced traditional mail services. And the only vision that UPU can embrace is the convoluted, nitpicking and imperial way to tell us where we live.
Innovation?
Formed sometime in the nineteenth century, this Swiss based and now UN affiliated body is well known for contemplating its own administrative navel. Its website describes Saint Martin in parenthesis as the ‘French portion’. My French grandmother would certainly appreciate the culinary implications of such a designation. Does that make her a tart?
French may be the organization’s common language but it lacks common sense. Henk Bleker, Dutch State secretary for Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation is rightfully concerned with this verbiage. He would rather see innovation in BES postal services than linguistic directives.
He has a point. I waited one hour to buy a single postage stamp in the Statia Post Office the other day before twenty customers were served by one cashier. The office has two cashiers and a post manager but one of the former was clearly more busy texting her friend to CU L8R and the latter was more motivated in helping his Aruban chum to jump queue with money wiring instructions.
Similar disgraceful efforts and lack of customer service rudeness have also been experienced by yours truly in St Maarten. Furthermore, local and international post is lost or delayed by months. And there are other communication issues namely the slowest, most unreliable and most expensive internet service in the Caribbean. Even the local TV cable company recently hiked its monthly fees by fifty percent from USD 30 to 45.
Modernization
If Statia is to take its rightful place within the ‘Caribbean part of the Netherlands (Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba), the island’s infrastructure needs to be modernized and very quickly.
Meanwhile, French may be the language of the global postal community but this latest fling with Anglo Saxon etymology strikes me as being totally absurd. And who did they consult before drafting this imperative? Nobody!
It reminds me of that French peasant who follows his donkey and proudly admits: “Je suis que je suis, mais je ne suis pas ce que je suis!” I am what I am, but I am not what I follow!
Well I would not like to follow UPU. It describes itself as the ‘postal sector’s primary forum for global cooperation.’ As experts in correspondence, one might have thought that somebody in this postal monolith would have noted that its acronym (UPU) corresponds to something quite rude. So rude in fact, that I have added it to my personal dictionary of mobile texting.
Should any of my dwindling friends find this in any shape or form to be disagreeable, they know what to expect and where…
GRTZ
James Russell