I UNDERSTAND why some small post offices close for lunch.
It’s an anachronism in today’s modern world but if you’re a one-man branch you have to eat. Someone, somewhere probably knows why certain post offices still have half-day closing, a practise that went out with stagecoaches and Dick Turpin.
I can appreciate why the odd postman will refuse to take mail from me even when emptying the post box. Now and again I almost make it to the door in the nanosecond Parcel Force allow before disappearing back to the depot with my undelivered parcel. (It used to be called Knock and Run.)
In all honesty, I didn’t believe Royal Mail had any more surprises to spring on me until I went to post a batch of mail at a box in Park Green recently.
Where the opening should have been was a steel plate snapped shut and a sign that read ‘Postbox Opening Times: Mon-Friday 4.00-7.00pm: Saturday 0.00am-00am.’
A mailbox that only works a 15-hour week must be some kind of droid like R2D2. What next a letter from the Jedi delivered by C3PO?
The views on this page are Vic Barlow's and not necessarily those of the Express
