My postman Ceri is a real gem. When you live in a rural area they can be the eyes and ears of the neighbourhood and they look out for people. When I'm not in he leaves my parcels in a secure place but I was home today to receive the book I ordered - 'The Map as Art'. Ceri asked what 'this one is about?', rolling his eyes to heaven when I told him. He always says that my book orders keep him in a job so he told me to 'enjoy it' and got on with his round. I then made a cup of tea , sat down and had a quick preview and saw this image above, taken from a book by illustrator Harriet Russell called 'Envelopes'.
This is a book I bought a couple of years ago and it is a collection of decorated envelopes by Harriet, all of which have been sent through the Royal Mail system in the UK. After receiving mail that had been delivered despite being misspelled she decided to send herself envelopes where she tried to hide or disguise the address to see how many would get through. She used many ways of communicating the address ; mazes, join the dots, anagrams, illustrations, puns, visual games, experimental fonts, puzzles and literary word play. When you look at some of them closely you can see where the postal staff have joined in by completing the puzzle, determined to beat the sender and deliver to their destination.
You may find it hard to believe that the majority of the envelopes arrived at their intended destination but they did and all have their postmarks to prove it. The Royal Mail has added a preface to the book - apparently our posties deliver up to 15 million poorly addressed letters every week and the Return Letter Centre - where items are opened with the hope of finding a return address - handles a further 72 million undeliverable items a year!It makes me even more grateful for my wonderful postie. I love being online and e mailing people but there is still nothing to beat getting a handwritten letter, card or parcel. When I am waiting for something I listen out for his van driving up the road and I'm out there like a shot when I see him stop outside my gate. Long may it continue. Go on, write to someone today that you have not contacted for a long time. Imagine their delight when they get your letter - and yours when you get a reply!!
4 comments:
Fascinating - it's good to know that posties are not all "jobsworths" and will try to deliver mail even if not properly addressed! You are so right there is nothing like getting a real letter or better yet a package in the post. E-mail is a godsend (especially now our daughter is of no fixed abode on the other side of the world!) but I often print out e-mails just so as to have something "real" to read and re-read.
How I agree with you,(despite a special card from my in-laws going missing lst week). I was amazed to get one from France with no top line (post-code helped. Since having a blog I have had more exciting packages through the post than I ever did before, and I have sent off a few too, so keep bloggging keep posting.
Brilliant idea although I'm not sure I'd have enough nerve to torture the post people like that! Good to hear they have a sense of humour... I can't say enough good things about the good old British postie - now that I've experienced the appalling Australian equivalent. We have no postal delivery where we live now, but the first place we lived in had a perfectly useable mailbox. We used to wait with great excitement for our letters from 'home' and waved back at our postie as they waved to us... while stuffing a pre-written card in said mailbox that read "we are sorry you were out when we tried to deliver your mail. Please collect it from (a really incovenient sorting office a long drive away) after 2pm". Harrumphh. Mind you, now we've been here for 3 1/2 years no-one writes any more!
I've wanted to send you something for a while Lesley - if you are happy to let me have your address we can see if we can get your postie's eyes rolling!
I'm at lifecoacher@hotmail.co.uk
Chrissie x
Post a Comment