It's in the mail!
When Annie asked us to send her pupils a postcard I thought “ok, no problem, no big deal”.
I mean, how hard is it to buy a postcard, write something on it, stamp it and send it?
Well, I was wrong.
Not that I am complaining, actually I thank her for this request, for it showed something new to me.
I was used to living in the center of Lisbon, in a traditional area where most shops still sell postcards. I also used to go to downtown Lisbon every single day, where lots of tourists buy postcards everyday.
Not now. Now I am living in the suburbia, where no postcards seem to be sold: that’s for tourists, you see.
I also spend most of my days in the upper districts of Lisbon, business areas where almost no tourists can be found.
Most people looked at me as if I were trying to buy the Moon:
“Postcards? Haven’t sold’em in years”
“Nobody sends postcards anymore”
“People use e-mail nowadays”
“That’s just for tourists”
Etc, etc…
Of course with all this it took me quite a while to get the postcard.
Shameful as it was I decided to send it by airmail instead of standard mail, to make up for the delay in getting the said postcard.
Easy and the expense wasn’t that much more. I tried to find a vending machine with stamps for international fast mail and got another surprise: the machines no longer sell the damned postage I needed.
No problem, I got to a post office and asked for the stamps and for the reason why they aren’t available on the vending machines.
“Simple, the international airmail MUST have a sticker on it, so the machines can’t sell, it would mean the machine would have to give you two pieces of paper, that is not possible.”
I won’t even make any remark regarding this argument. I was given three huge stamps and an enormous sticker.
At this point I realized the stamps and the sticker were too big and either I would glue something on the front of the postcard or I would have to get also an envelope.
An envelope I got.
The postcard is now in the mail!
I mean, how hard is it to buy a postcard, write something on it, stamp it and send it?
Well, I was wrong.
Not that I am complaining, actually I thank her for this request, for it showed something new to me.
I was used to living in the center of Lisbon, in a traditional area where most shops still sell postcards. I also used to go to downtown Lisbon every single day, where lots of tourists buy postcards everyday.
Not now. Now I am living in the suburbia, where no postcards seem to be sold: that’s for tourists, you see.
I also spend most of my days in the upper districts of Lisbon, business areas where almost no tourists can be found.
Most people looked at me as if I were trying to buy the Moon:
“Postcards? Haven’t sold’em in years”
“Nobody sends postcards anymore”
“People use e-mail nowadays”
“That’s just for tourists”
Etc, etc…
Of course with all this it took me quite a while to get the postcard.
Shameful as it was I decided to send it by airmail instead of standard mail, to make up for the delay in getting the said postcard.
Easy and the expense wasn’t that much more. I tried to find a vending machine with stamps for international fast mail and got another surprise: the machines no longer sell the damned postage I needed.
No problem, I got to a post office and asked for the stamps and for the reason why they aren’t available on the vending machines.
“Simple, the international airmail MUST have a sticker on it, so the machines can’t sell, it would mean the machine would have to give you two pieces of paper, that is not possible.”
I won’t even make any remark regarding this argument. I was given three huge stamps and an enormous sticker.
At this point I realized the stamps and the sticker were too big and either I would glue something on the front of the postcard or I would have to get also an envelope.
An envelope I got.
The postcard is now in the mail!
posted by DCveR at 7:19 AM
17 Comments:
that's so sad. getting a postcard in the mail is one of those unexpected joys in life. too bad it's fallen out of favor and will be extinct soon.
also sad? little kids will probably never really learn handwriting, but they'll be wizards plagued with carpal tunnel syndrome from the keyboard.
I am waiting to go somewhere exotic before I send Annie a postcard. Do you think I should take some British stamps with me? LOL.
you know that's funny, i'm going through the same thing right now- trying to send a post card to "nico boy" and cant find any i like! but true i should start thinking of how i'll stamp it...
Took me a while to find some lovely ones too.
I found the most beeeeyouuuutiful cards today. I even bought some for my little niece. I will write them and post them on Thursday.
cadiz: I confess I very seldom write a real letter with paper and ink, but most kids these days never have writen a letter and probably never will.
cream: British stamps? What on Earth for? Oh well, if you're thinking of getting our mail service puzzled I've got bad news for you: insuficient postage sometimes gets delivered pending payment, no postage or foreign stamps or whatever gets trashed.
ale & GG: My problem was to find ANY postcards, not to find beautiful ones, I couldn't even find ugly ones!!!
penny: Maybe the first ones, after a few attempts I was already laughing at it and my face was simply amused at my own surprise.
tall glass: Sorry, I must admit I prefer to send e-cards too... GH loves stationery and pens and things school or office related though.
You mean you didn't need to donate a DNA sample and provide your mother's maiden name?
e-Cards are great but it's so much nicer to get something in the mail besides bills.
tacit: Lets face it, snail mail takes forever to reach its destination, GH always sends postcards to our friends when we are away from Portugal and we ALWAYS come back before the postcards arrive...
bent: How did you know about the DNA sample? Yes, we still use stamps that you have to lick to glue them... there's the DNA sample. That argument about getting something other than bills is a bit of a killer...
Bless your heart. I didn't realise it was going to be such a quest for the holy grail! Believe me when I say that the effort will be worth it... they will be over the moon to get something through the post.
annie: I thank you. I know where to get postcards in Lisbon, it's easy, just step into any of the shops in the areas where tourists usually go, but I hadn't noticed you don't find them anywhere anymore. It's one of those things that is sliping away under our nose and we don't even notice it.
Annie's postcard idea is fantastic. Thank DC for pointing me at those place. Anyway - I still use snail mail (mostly when my girlfriend is in France [every last four summers]) and I like receiving postcards. I always keeps forgetting to send them...
Polish s-mail was very bad up to some years ago but they're prette fast now (mhm, "almost" true) but domestic mail (sent with 'priority' sticker) usually arrives its destination in one day (if sent before 3PM) and foreign in 3 days but it depends on all the countries involved. However, in this year only one of 4 (maybe 5) letters I sent to France arrived there faster then in one week... :|
I don't know how, but written letters have more emotional power to me, you see letters which tells you a lot about the mood of the writer, there's no emoticons usually etc... and you could always add some extra items to mail (feather?) :]
You should take some of your photos and make your own postcards.
Ow, thanks! I was thinking about the postcards with the place where I live and there's really nothing worth sending (postcards that I've seen were simply ugly) so it's awesome idea! Thanks!
shyha: We also have a fast mail service here, called blue mail, that costs twice the postage but usually reaches its destination the next day if it's national mail. But the standard mail can take the same time or a full month, depending of the god's whims, the moon, the tides and the influence of a little elf who lives probably in Australia.
viking & isis: I've done that sometimes in the past. I even used to have postcard backs made of sticky paper, to glue in the back of photographies and plastic fronts to make them stronger and to keep it from scratches.
Full month? Really? We had such good services before '89 when the mail was censored.
I will have to do the same as photo-backs are not very good canvas for writing.
I am rubbish at sending postcards. All of my never bought postcards are 'in the post' ;-)
Bent is right. I'm all for the good old fashioned letter, no matter how much trouble it takes to write, stamp and send!!
Here in Hawaii, there is NO STORE of any kind that does not carry postcards. The one that makes me laugh the most is the postcards they sell of the beautful black sand beach at Kalapana. Gorgeous place! So what's the problem? It was completey destroyed by lava in 1989. Some people are still in denial.
NML: Shame on you. I at least don't say I mailed them...
kris: The photos used in postcards here are usually from many years ago too, one of the things that gives it away is when they took street pictures you notice some old car passing by.
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