Yoh!...Postman Pat Goes Post Modern!

Wow! It's all I could say the morning I decided to switch on MNET, and stumble upon an upgraded version of an old childhood favorite, Postman Pat. Of course, nobody uses those clay animation stills anymore, you can easily do that will SFX for half the price. I have zero problem with that actually, however I had no idea how much of the story had changed concerning Postman Pat. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, a full blown drama with Pat having a full 360-degree personality.

Gone was the cat-loving virgin who did his daily rounds with his black and white cat, named Jess in the small town somewhere in England's countryside. A 15 minute-story that featured Pat making his small community happy by delivering their mail on time and receiving cups of tea from the the farmers and retired folk who live amidst the narrow roads that could only fit one car at a time. 

Always time of a cuppa tea!	The original cast and community
Cheeky sheep don't stand a chance in this town!	Giving more than just a hand....eeek

In fact, Pat never really spoke for himself as there was an omnipotent narrator who guided us kids through the episodes. The story was beyond simple, and the challenges had easy solutions. That was the last time I ever saw or heard of Pat......

That was probably more than 20 years ago.

Fast forward to 2016:

Postman Pat has a movie. A movie where Pat has indeed progressed to living beyond delivering letters and helping find lost sheep. Pat, real name Patrick Brown..oohh lalala, now has a family. He has a sweet wife named Sarah and football loving son named Julien! Woah!!!!

Hey Girl.......

Sarah and Julien are rather nice actually, and they keep a comfy double-story home in Greendale (the town's name). Pat's postal company has been upgraded to a well functioning warehouse that focuses on their employees well-being and has state of the art logistics going on. However, the postal company is sold and new management takes over and introduces pay cuts...and the ever dreaded new budget. This means Pat won't be able to go on that much needed romantic vacation with his wife to Italy....now the plot starts rolling.

In the movie, you can see Pat in casual clothes, outside of his usual uniform. He also enters a singing/Idols competition, hosted by a Simon Cowbell (lol), and makes it to the finals. He then progresses to become incredibly famous throughout England, and goes through the same over night popularity as Susan Boyle.

Apple or Samsung?

Thing is Pat can sing really well and eventually the fame get's to his letter-head (hahah..get it!), while the evil talent manager tries to destroy pat's postal company and career through reckless capitalistic exploits. The bad guy does this all through the use of modern technology and science which he controls through his smart phone. 



In the old Postman Pat the only technology used was the landline telephone and the drama came from ordering from mail catalogs.

Pat no longer deals with the issues of Post Office-ism, but rather the complexities of Post-Modernism in being a loving husband, dad, employee and artist all while climbing the corporate ladder in a flailing economy. What a guy!

Pat's singing voice was actually done by ol' Ronan Keating! Remember this dude from the late 90s and early 00s from Boyzone? Of course you do! You had their poster on your wall too ;). Rupert Grint, Ron from Harry Potter, also makes an appearance as computer game loving contestant. A real all-star British cast there.



Postman Pat, or shall I say Patrick Brown, has proven to us that our flailing economy in the Western world has shown that many have been driven to escaping into reality-TV fueled by our easy, free social media available through technology. This has caused many to aspire in becoming the next over night super star or get in on the get-rich-quick schemes. This is further promoted by overrated sensationalism which has fueled an obsession over celebrity culture from unworthy role models of super rich people gone viral over the internet.

F*ck the system!

The hardworking men and women of today are hardly recognised, nor their potential appreciated as it were before. Not even poor ol' Postman Pat could resist into the temptation in trying to make his mark and get some recognition for his worth in this world. He even went as a far as getting his pilot's license to deliver air mail. All the man wanted was to take his wife to Italy for a weekend for Pete's sake!

"Well, if this doesn't say "Service Delivery' then I don't know!"

Yoh..Idols..nogals.

The 'I' in Team

We've all been there. You are forced to work in a team and then you have to deal with that ONE person who needs to claim their status that they so benevolently bestowed upon themselves. This applies for teamwork everywhere, from schools, the everyday office, business or even sports!

You'll notice it doesn't matter what the topic or subject is, this person or people will want to do their part and everyone else's. To be honest there's different types of these spanners in the works type people. Let's take a look at the 'drukke':

• The I-Know-What-You-Should-Do person: This nool (slang for idiot) will alter and criticise every idea or part of the work you present to the project. they are the first to claim dibs on what section they want, but during meetings they will sit and work on your parts and then totally neglect their section. Yes, they do nothing but emit hot air.

• The Self Proclaimed Leader: They'll either act as the acting manager even if the manager is present in the next room. They'll also think their ideas or opinions are worth millions as only theirs counts or has value! Eeeeurgh!

• The Freeloader: We all don't want to work with this one, but are forced to. Usually this clown, is never interested and does minimal work with almost no valid contribution to the work. How they get the job or in this position is a mystery left for the X-Files.

• The Over-Thinker: You can never go to step two with this person. every aspect is over-analysed to a point of stupidity. These people waste time, keep the group back and totally miss the main focus point because they..well...OVER THINK EVERYTHING!

• The Control Freak: This person needs no introduction. A typical type A personality, they need to be involved in everyone's though process to ensure it's EXACTLY the same as theirs...down to the tee. Lord have mercy.

It doesn't matter where you go or where you work, these or one of these people will exist. They strengthen the core of all our eyeballs, as we land up rolling them a billion times throughout their presence.

Team work is an integral part of business development and life in general, and it offers a lot of self- development for ourselves professionally and personally.

Sadly, for some, working with others is just a platform for them to receive attention or stroke their egos due to some personal issues outside of the work place. I most cases, these 5 types of team non-players usually land up not learning anything from working with others or themselves because they've placed themselves in a position above or in one case they not even present.

What can you do?

Nothing! That's life and it takes all kind of people to make this world go round. Deal with it!