Royal Mail

During the past week, three anniversary cards have arrived a day late to us and two birthday cards we have sent have arrived a day late. I assumed this was due to last week's postal strike (our anniversary was around that time) although the missed birthday card on the Thursday was pushing it, I felt.

However, yesterday I heard two things from an Aunt of mine that really take the biscuit. First of all, a thank you letter I sent in May arrived at her house on the 10th of July. She said it looked as if it had been dropped in every puddle from Cheshire to Oxfordshire and had not been franked (although she did say she wouldn't be re-using the stamp since it was too muddy). How's that for first class mail?

Secondly, she took an important letter last Monday that needed to be at its destination by Friday and handed it over at the Post Office counter and had it signed for. As it became apparant that it hadn't arrived, she went back to the Post Office and was told it would not be any further than Oxford, since there had been an unofficial strike in the town all week and post was not being collected. The counter staff had known about it on the Monday, but had been unable to tell her as it was unofficial. As she said, if she had known, she would have taken it across the county boundary to somewhere where there wasn't a strike.

And the Royal Mail wonder why we are all so disillusioned....

Soundtrack: Blackbird - The Beatles; Louisa on A Horse - Otway & Barratt; Australia - The Men They Couldn't Hang