Heart attack

Sunday, September 17, 2017

The Lonely Postie

You do see some strange things, just watching the world go by outside your window. Our kitchen sink faces a window which looks out onto the road outside. As I stand and do the washing-up, I notice many things, many of them slightly strange, or at least, mysterious, to say the least. A postman sitting on the kerb, legs crossed. He has a pile of coats or something beside him on the grass. It's a mild day, weather-wise, he has on a short-sleeved polo shirt, and looks relaxed. He sits near a large Royal Mail van which is parked nearby. He begins to roll a cigarette, taking a tin from his pocket and then removing an envelope of tobacco from this tin and begins to roll the aforementioned cigarette. I think he should have a plastic box with a few sandwiches in and had his lunch. But he didn't. In that case he was missing a trick. He should have made the most of being away from the main sorting office, or wherever he was based. Had a small primus stove and made himself a cup of tea. Or had a can of Coke or something else to drink. Not alchoholic, you understand, as he was driving. Why on earth is he there? At first it occurred to me that the van might have broken down and he was waiting for a breakdown truck or something. But then a rather amiable postie comes past, acknowledges the man sitting on the ground and walks on past. Why, since it was well past 2 o'clock on a Saturday afternoon, were these postmen about in the first place? Our post is usually delivered by 11 a.m. most days, but over the past couple of weeks they've been delivering later and later, even around 4-5 p.m. What one earth is going on? I know we used to get two deliveries in Bedford when I lived at Beauchamp Court, the first at around 7 a.m and the second at around 11 a.m. You could virtually tell the time by the postman's deliveries. But they've got somewhat slack, I know they've just cut the delivery to one a day, but is it such a good thing to have one delivery and that at any old time they feel like making the effort? I presume the lone postman was the driver and had the job of taking out postmen to deliver the mail around the various estates in Milton Keynes and then collect them when they had completed their rounds. I only assume, but I imagine that was what he was up to. He wasn't exactly working hard, sitting and rolling his fags at the side of the road. He didn't seem to be making a lot of effort even if he was the driver. I saw the postman open the back of the van and put something inside and I'm not sure the other postman didn't get inside.I finished the washing up and went off to do something else, but a few minutes later I looked again and the van and the man had gone. And why do vehicles insist on parking right opposite our house? Is it just me? I'm not becoming paranoid. Just whenever I decide to reverse out of our drive there's always a vehicle slap-bang in the way.

Thinking about it now, I don't suppose that postman was THAT lonely. Just needed a title for this blog post. Seemed perfectly happy but it did seem odd to have a postman sort of having a picnic right outside our house on a Saturday morning.

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