Royal Mail tends to get a lot of bad press, people say first class mail is too slow, parcels don't get delivered on time, if at all! Naturally, when sending a parcel, this is a consideration.
Some people may have noticed that of late, the dark clouds have disappeared and it's generally been a bright and sun-shiny day. Unfortunately this recent blessing in the weather has coincided with the arm (or leg) of my sunglasses detaching itself from the body thus rendering them useless (yes I could balance them on my nose but that would look ridiculous).
A quick call and a nice American lady (“I love your accent” she tells me, “why thank you, your's isn't too bad either, now about my sunglasses...”) gives me the address of the UK service center in Hertfordshire, all I have to do is put the glasses in a box and send it off, brilliant! I should get them back in ten days just in time to see the clouds come back.
Yesterday, after risking numerous paper cuts and going through a roll of tape, I take my box to the post office and send it on it's merry way, waiting, with bated breath for the day I can once again protect my eyes.
This evening when I got home, any and all doubts I had about the post office were banished from my mind as on my doorstep sat my sunglasses all boxed up and nowhere to go.
Thank you, Royal Mail, for knowing the difference between a freepost destination address and a return address!
5 comments:
Oh wow! They are rubbish aren't they? Graham once wrote a fantastic story and sent me the only copy. I posted it back, and only an empty envelope arrived!
Hope you get your sunglasses back (again, fixed) soon.
That's an awful shame, I can replace the sunglasses but he can't replace the story....
This is a true tale (and not an excuse): my court summons was once lost in the post (nothing too serious) and the first I knew about it was when a couple of police men showed up at my flat with a warrant! They were very nice and civil about it, they didn't use the handcuffs but I was arrested and taken away in the back of a police car.
I honestly did not get the summons and had a very difficult time trying to convince the judge of that fact.
despite not having lived on that godsforsaken (note the plural) isle for many a long year, and finding it hard to believe that anyone could conceivably have a use for sunglasses while there, i can only commiserate with your postal plight josh...
i too have a pair of occasionally one-armed sunglasses (altho', in my case, it's because i have a screw loose, in the glasses, let me add...) but thankfully have not been obliged to have recourse to the royal (or plebian) mail to get 'em fixed, as the only problem lies in working out where the errant screw has gone to while trying to hold the one-armed specs on my face (they're also prescription lensed, as i can't find a screw in a haystack without 'em) while groping around with the other arm (mine, not the glasses') in search of it...
hope that is all nice and clear but, if not, i could always lend you a pair of my sunnies in the meantime...
I think it's a London thing. The post is amazing round here. And Ariane's anecdote conveniently skips the fact that she secured the envelope with a single piece of flimsy tape! Fortunately she's also being far too generous - the story was a stinker and better off lost.
ER, the problem is I've no use of the sunglasses during the two weeks of the year I most need them! Not to worry I have a scratched spare set which sort or work, that is to say they block out the sun but the world does look somewhat.... scratched.
HG, Don't get me wrong, I'm quite impressed, I posted on Monday (afternoon) and they were delivered on Tuesday, that's one day earlier than I've ever seen it done before. If we ignore the fact that they delivered to the wrong address then you would have to admit, it's a bloody good effort!
Are you sure it was a stinker? Google “postman turned bestselling author” and see if any of the results seem familiar....
Post a Comment