According to Tila, whose birthday it is and who is Mexican, November 12th is their national Day of the Postman, Dia del Cartero. It is to acknowledge the hard work, daily difficulties and constancy of those who work in the postal service. There are different days for this in the different southern American countries. You are encouraged to leave small gifts, sweets, pastries in your mailbox to show your appreciation. Tila says that on November 12th there is no delivery or collection. When she was younger she had gone to the delivery office hoping for birthday presents. It was closed. But there were people inside. She explained. She was let in and given a slice of postal worker cake and her birthday cards.
In my local post office there was the usual queue of misery. Two windows out of eight open. “Any picture stamps?” “What? No we’ve just got the usual, Christmas stamps are out soon.” “Ok, four of them then.” Flicking through the ledger “Oh, there are these, must have come out in the summer, you want them?” holds up a sheet of post box stamps brought out to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the earliest known surviving posting slot, outside Wakefield Post Office in Yorkshire.
Behind the front door when I get home, my first letter since the suspension of the strike last week. A cheesy Christmas card from the Royal Mail.
It’s all getting confusing.
