Come in. You will have bought your stamps'

High Noon. Monday.There it was, dead on time, the Post Office Outreach Mobile Post Office. The shivering queue of pensioners outside Hutton Village Hall surged forward-'One at a time please' barked the voice of the Mobile Post Mistress 'This is the Post Office, customers privacy to be respected. One at a time' Huttonian was the last in the queue, 40 minutes in light rain later (the Village Hall was locked, no shelter there)7 pensions dispensed, 4 stamps sold, I boarded the van and advanced, unimpeded to the 'counter'. 'Who are you?' asked the MPM. 'I told her' 'I have not seen you before' ' My first visit since the service replaced the post office' ' Are you from here?' 'I was but now stay in Duns' 'Sorry I can't serve you. This van is only for the community' 'But surely this is a public facility' 'Public as in Hutton or, at a pinch, Paxton. Think about it. If every Jock, Sean and Jimmy turned up we do not carry enough stock to satisfy demand. Sorry. Back to Duns' '

'But I only want a packet of First Class Stamps'

'Dream on' and slammed the grill shut.

My blistering retort died on my lips

And the wife bent over me with a warm mug of tea. 7-15 AM Tuesday.


(I really must get to Hutton and see what really happens(

But I fear the worst.

Labels: Hutton Post Office, Mobile Post Office

  ¶ 9:52 AM