Next to the Post Office is a van. While a man nonchalantly unloaded the van, without a care in the world, an alarm was sounding.

'Warning, warning. This Post Office van is under attack, please call the police. Warning, warning.'

And so it went on, for around half an hour, if not more, while people stared at the van, wondering.

Stop for a while, and you could see people's minds working. Should I call the police? Is the van really under attack? What if they have a gun?Oh well, someone else will do it, and I'm hungry.'

The whole scene would have made a great psychological experiment in how people react to situations.

No-one seemed unduly concerned, but what if the van had been really under attack by people who were dressed in Post Office uniforms and just simply conning everyone.

Did anyone at any point call the police?

Did someone come out of the Post Office and say "Sorry, this is a false alarm", or did everyone just move on and quietly and get a sausage roll? I know I did...

***

UNFORTUNATE... that's Powys Council's verdict on plans to take nearly 200 of our public phones out of service.

I say it's a disgrace.

BT has apparently earmarked 94 boxes in Brecon and Radnorshire for closure and a further 96 in Montgomeryshire.

Councillor Gareth Morgan hits the nail bang on the head when he says: "BT are a private company and they report only to shareholders, however is there not an obligation to keep offering some kind of public service?"

BT of course argues that the phones are no longer used as people have their mobiles.

But as we Mid Wales folk know, the service is patchy in many of our out of the way places.

Just the other day I had cause to use one as my stupid battery had gone flat in my mobile thing.

I stopped to use a phone at a kiosk, only to find the wretched thing did not take coins and only accepted cards – useless.

By the time I arrived home late Mrs N had gone to bed and left a note to say "dinner's in the dog, it got burned."

All because I couldn't make a call.

Just suppose it had been a more serious call in something like an emergency. It doesn't bear thinking about.

So many of our so-called "service providers" are quick to make cuts these days to satisfy shareholders that they've forgotten why they were set up in the first place... as service providers.

***

Going back to my gripe last week about the police involvement in the lost ball in someone's garden.

I had a phone call from the poor person involved – a disabled person at that.
It seems the young perishers who left their ball on her premises caused some damage to the shed where she keeps her disability scooter.
Come on kids, own up and at least say you're sorry!

***

TEXT messages, they can sometimes send me completely mad. Your phone beeps at you at the most inopportune moments, especially if you forget to silence them as I often do.

The ones that are always guaranteed to make me furious are those from my "service provider" trying to prise more money away from me by offering ever more fantastic services – most of which I don't even understand.

Anyway, it's about time they were investigated for their charges when we go on holiday.

Being a good lad my son sentus the odd message to say the usual sort of stuff you used to expect on a postcard. Cost him a fortune.

I'm glad Glenys Kinnock is calling on the EU Telecoms Commissioner to look into these charges, which can be up to 20 times what you'd normally pay.