Today I posted myself five empty envelopes using
Royal Mail. On the back of the envelopes I wrote the numbers 1-5. The number 1 on the first envelope, 2 on the second envelope, 3 on the third, and so on. Tomorrow I am going to post myself five more empty envelopes, and the next day I am going to post myself five more empty envelopes, and I am going to do this until I use up all twenty four fist class stamps that I purchased today.
Why am I doing this?
Well, the postal service to our house is nothing less than appalling. Forget the postal strikes. They were just a minor inconvenience compared to the challenge that is the post to this house on any given postal day, and it has been this way for well over a year.
The reason our house seems to be so hard to deliver to is because we live on a Grove, named after the Road that it branches off of. So you have '# Name Grove' and '# Name Road'. As I have said, we live on the Grove. It seems that this is Very Hard for
Royal Mail to deal with, and our post repeatedly goes to the address around the corner, and not to our house. Sometimes we get their post, and a few months ago we got quite a lot of their post. I always take it around and post it through their door, because that is what people should do. The problem is, this is not what they do for us. In fact, I am pretty sure they just throw our post in the bin, now. I have been waiting on a letter from the hospital that was posted over three weeks ago. It has never arrived. I went to check with '# Name Road', and they said they haven't received any of our post. Given that in the past when they have received our post and they have never brought it to our house (I have had to go and collect it), then I have a sneaking suspicion that they just bin our stuff now, and that the letter from the hospital pertaining to a really important appointment has just gone the way of their bin.
This whole thing has been very frustrating, and has been made even more frustrating given that I have complained to
Royal Mail about the subject three times. Each time they have said they will fix it, and each time they have failed. Even after the third complaint I made, the very next day we received the wrong post. I was so frustrated I ended up not phoning them, as I wasn't sure that I would not just end up crying down the phone. I was a bit emotional that day.
It seems anything my mum sends me from Australia is especially difficult for them to deliver. Four things my mum has posted me have gone missing. Three to wrong addresses which were later retrieved, and one that was sent back to Australia. No word of a lie. They didn't even try and deliver it at all, not even to the wrong address. You might imagine my mum is a bit confused. After all, it's not like I moved to a third world country with a dubious postal system. No, I am supposed to be living in 'one of the greatest countries in the world'. Well guess what, England?
Royal Mail is really shit, and is an embarrassment to your country.
So, back to the test.
I am going to see how many of my 24 letters arrive through my letter slot. I want all 24 to make it, I really do. Do you know how much peace of mind that would give me? Except, I know I am not going to get all 24. And when I don't get all 24, I am going to phone
Royal Mail and really get quite a bit angry. I will not cry, as I am not emotional at the moment. And also, the post is especially important at this point in time. We are waiting on the return of our passports from the
Home Office, and I swear to
God, if
Royal Mail cock up that delivery, I am going to slit my wrists. Or spit in my postman's chips. I might do that. You see, I serve him his effing lunch a couple of times a week. And I have never made it personal. I have never said anything to him about how shit he is. I've simply not wanted to take him on at work like that. It just seems inappropriate to me. But I am wondering if it is actually the only way to get through to him.
A part of my experiment is going to be sending myself some 'registered signed for' envelopes as well, as this is how the
Home Office will send us back our passports. Please stay tuned for the results. I hope for everyones sake that the results are better than hoped for, but I am not holding my breath.