Tag: post office tree

On unwanted correspondence

I went to fetch our mail from the post office this morning.  When I opened our post office box (as usual for a moment feeling like Alice sticking that very small key into that very small door) I found something terrible inside:

A POST OFFICE BOX RENEWAL FORM!

It’s terrible.  Don’t they know that I’m having a hard enough time of it as it is?  Now the stupid post office is adding to the pressure, asking me questions to which I simply do not have the answer.  Don’t they understand?  I just don’t know if I need to renew my PO Box for next year or if I need to cancel it.

I’m still waiting to hear about that job, you see.  And yesterday I was a bit of an idiot and, on a whim, checked on their Facebook page where I saw a post stating that the meeting where they will decide who to appoint would be last night.  Needless to say, I’ve been staring at the phone the whole day, willing it to ring.  Going to the post office was an excuse to get out of the house and clear my head a bit.  Yeah, that helped.

Actually, I blame my sister-in-law.  If she didn’t message me on WhatsApp to ask whether I’ve heard anything yet I would never have visited their Facebook page, which means I wouldn’t have needed to clear my head, which means I wouldn’t have gone to the post office, which means I would have been blissfully unaware of that evil form lying safely locked away behind a miniature lock in my post office box.

Giant post box Calvinia, South Africa
For when you have really long letters to post…

Speaking of post boxes, did you know the world’s biggest post box is in South Africa?  It’s in a town called Calvinia and is almost seven metres tall.  The first post box in South Africa was an old boot buried under a milk wood tree in what’s today Mossel Bay.  Now there’s a real post box under the tree…shaped like a shoe.

On vacation (still) Part I

On Monday we woke up to grey skies and water falling from the skies.  After checking that it wasn’t the end of the world arriving six months late, we headed in to Mossel Bay for a bit of museuming and a spot of shopping at the covered flea market.  We had last been to the Dias Museum exactly four years ago (give or take a couple of days) on our honeymoon.  Here are some photos.

Bartolomeu Dias
Bartolomeu Dias in the…flesh?
Bartolomeu Dias Plaque
The plaque on the statue. It’s in Portuguese.

I’ve mentioned Bartolomeu Dias in a previous post.  In 1488 he was the first European (as far as we know) to travel beyond the southern tip of Africa.  After landing at Mossel Bay he made it as far as a third of the way between what is today known as Port Elizabeth and East London before his crew forced him to turn back due to fears that their supplies will run out.  Consequently Dias never found a route to India as had been the intention, that honour going to his countryman, Vasco da Gama. Continue reading “On vacation (still) Part I”