The Mailbox

I love the look of Canada's bright, cheerful mail boxes and I wonder how long it will be before they become obsolete in this rapidly changing world. I now seldom use the mail service and no longer have a supply of stamps on hand. I send very few Christmas Cards. Gone are the days when we all knew our mailman or woman. 

In the hills of Deep Cove, were we lived, we had a very robust mail woman who ran from house to house delivering mail, taking shortcuts throughout the gardens for faster delivery. On one of her fast delivery days, she came leaping through the shrubbery and landed right next to Amy, who was playing on the driveway. I don't know who screamed the loudest but it got me there in an instant, to find an apologizing mail woman with my mail.

We now live in the flat surfaces of False Creek, which makes delivery by postal employees somewhat easier. After returning from one of our sailing adventures, we found a large sticker on our mailbox. "Your Mailbox is Full" it screamed, and it was dated six weeks prior, notifying most potential burglars of our absence. Since then we have gone green and we are mostly paperless, with any "serious mail" sent to our new box at the Post Office. On occasion we still check our mailbox, and thankfully find it empty; we have been successful.

This morning I received some returned mail and it was marked "No Postbox". The cards had been sent to my daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter at their new address in Vancouver. It is a new house in an old established neighbourhood in transition. They had just moved into their new home, and being three stories on a standard lot; it is hard to miss.They weren't aware that the the house had no mailbox and other mail was likely returned as well. If there had been no house on the lot, but had a mailbox on a post, would the mail have been delivered?  Only Canada postal employees know the answer.