Universal post office experiences

On the recent cruise I tried to send postcards home at every stop (see the picture above for me posting a postcard in Corfu). I had a couple of visits to post offices that made me aware of the universality of some experiences - particularly unhelpful customer service!

In Dubrovnik I went into a post office to buy stamps and bought them with no trouble at all. It was about 1.58pm. After purchasing the stamps I saw the post office had some unusual and interesting looking souvenirs opposite the counter. 

As I looked at the souvenirs one of the clock-watching staff suddenly announced "sorry we are closed" and tapped her watch to tell me it was 2pm. They literally turned the latch to lock the door after I exited. 

In Kotor, Montenegro, I had another universal post office experienece. There was a queue and only one person serving. There was another staff member sat at the desk, with a little notice saying 'closed' (I presume) while she did something important, counting what looked like receipts. 

The queue stretched to the door as the person at the front of the queue was made to fill out various forms that would be attached to their parcel. The guy behind me huffed and tapped his foot. My brother appeared at the door peering over the shoulder of the last queuer wondering what the hell had happened to me. Meanwhile, the second cashier carried on with her important task, oblivious.

I was bemused and amused. Why are so many post offices like this, wherever you go in the world?  It reminded me of the post office in Taff's Well that used to close for lunch, despite that being the most convenient time for people working nearby to use their services. I asked the postmistress why they did that and she brusquely told me "we need to eat lunch too!" Which is fair, but, you know, customers... 

I have to say here that our local post office in Holmesdale Street is the exception. The counter is open every day of the week. The staff are helpful and friendly. They move the queue through quickly. It's a great little shop. Sometimes, you have to travel the world to be reminded of what a gem you have at home. 

Post-script

Even if you have a good post office experience, your item is still at the mercy of the delivery agency. One of my postcards didn't make it back unscathed.

I'm not sure if this damage was done to the postcard on the Dubrovnik end or back here in the UK. I wouldn't put it past Royal Mail. And, naturally, the rip damaged the stamp!

My stamp-collecting Dad would have ranted about this for hours. Honestly, I just laughed.

Post-post-script

Now that all five postcards I was able to send have arrived, I can tell you the Montenegro post office redeemed itself, with the post card arriving much sooner than the two cards I posted in the Greek islands. The card from Kefalonia was the last to arrive and literally landed on the mat this morning.

Highlights of 2017: Discovering Lundy Island

Back in May, Cathy and I had a week's holiday in North Devon. We stayed in a converted piggery - Cathy found it in the holiday brochure, told me it was the Old Piggery then read out the list of features. My response: "You had me at 'piggery'."

Not bad for a piggery

On the Thursday we took a boat from Bideford to Lundy. I'd heard about Lundy but didn't know much about it at all. I knew they had their own stamps as a money-making thing. And birds. And not much else.

The boat was fairly full. we had a seal on the rocks to greet us as we arrived. It's quite a hike up from the beach, but the island is basically a moor stuck in the middle of the sea.

But it is breathtaking. Yes, there were lots of birds, but they were a long way down the cliffs and inconveniently, puffins are really small! But we did just about see them flitting about.

One of the few buildings on the island is the lighthouse.

There is also a shop and a pub, and accommodation. But we weren't planning to stay the night and had to leg it back to catch the boat. We did have time to stop and post some post cards.

As we left a pod of dolphins kept pace with our boat for a few minutes, rounding off a magical day out. As you can see from the photos it was a blisteringly sunny day, although with a wind chill at times. However, coming home we seemed to cross a portal back into the rainy mainland world.

Informative postcards

I swear my Dad manages to fit more information onto a postcard than any other human being alive. Not only does he tell me what the weather has been like every day he's been away, but also every conference seminar he's gone to, every one my mum went to, who the speakers were, what he thought about what they said, what mum thought about the seminars she went to, the other sights he went to see with mum, the things he saw without mum, and even where they ate buns when they stopped for refreshments.

The slightly worrying thing is that I know he's now going to phone me and tell me all about it again. So, if I don't pick up when you ring me in the next couple of days, yes I am screening my calls. Don't take it personally.