'The Queen’s hat’
In our sixth and final instalment of principal engineer Jan Kojro’s work memoirs charting his 50-year Royal Mail career, Jan recalls his time in China and wonders what the next chapter will entail.
In part five we looked back at the ‘weird and whacky’ new world the Millennium brought. Today, we look back at the last decade.
‘Incorporated into our delivery methods project were upgraded designs for our high capacity and lightweight trolleys (HCT and LWT),’ said Jan. ‘This took me overseas once again to set up production in China. Only for a few months this time, but an interesting insight all the same into a country and a culture at factory level.
‘We hear a lot about China in a negative way, but I found the people I worked with warm and hospitable, which is more than can be said for the factory we worked in. In winter it was as cold as Siberia and in the summer, like being back in the desert!
‘It’s not unusual for the company directors or the company president in China to wear overalls displaying the company brand or logo when in the factory, so picking up on this, I ordered some uniform; trousers, shirts and fleece. This went down very well as red and gold are the royal colours of the old imperial court and still seen as lucky. I was even referred to as Mr Jan wearing the Queen’s hat (the crown on the cruciform!) After testing back in the UK, the final versions of the equipment were deployed in 2012.
‘I’ve worked on various small projects in the intervening years and presently find myself back in Delivery design with a new team, once again looking at new methods for delivering mail and parcels. My colleagues are hardworking, knowledgeable and committed to finding solutions for the operational design issues that we face now and in the future. They are added to the long list of people I have known and been inspired by over the years.
‘It’s unusual to spend 50 years in one company, particularly when most of the time has been as a senior manager. And perhaps a 50-year working span may not be so uncommon in the future as we live extended lives and pension investments no longer meet demand, but with a single employer, I doubt it.
‘So, this leads me to the question of how do we actually end a career? The convention until recent years has involved one reaching statutory or company retirement age and then withdrawing gracefully with the appropriate send-off. This isn’t the case now of course; we have the choice to carry on or go. So, where does that leave me? Is there another chapter to be written in this saga? I’ll leave the answer to that one for another day.’
