Richard Baum

This morning I went downstairs at 5am to have a glass of water, and fell over my cat. This inauspicious start to the day continued when it proved impossible to get back to sleep, and now I face the rest of it in a kind of grey haze, my reactions trailing about 5 seconds behind the rest of me.

This was particularly annoying at 10am today when the Post Office rang me back to discuss the fate of the post box on Rainsough Brow. I was unable to fully grasp what was being said until after I’d put down the phone, and thus the messenger was deprived of the shot he so thoroughly deserved.

Last week I wrote how I had found the box inexplicably shut off, and discovered on ringing the Post Office that it had been condemned by the black-cap wearing “Health and Safety” people. I now know the reason why the box has suddenly become hazardous - it’s that it’s placed near to a mini roundabout, and is thus dangerous to collect from.

The mini roundabout concerned has been there for years (although, clearly, not as long as the post box), but only now has it been deemed too dangerous to park up near. I was pretty amazed to hear that this was the reason, and also that the decision was made to instantly shut off the box, and remove it within the week. There is a Chinese takeaway car park right there next to it, with people coming and going all the time. I am told that they will “consider” replacing it, but no guarantees have been given. There was a mumbled acknowledgement that maybe some local residents might have liked to be involved in the decision, but apparently annoying vast parts of the community is less dangerous than continuing to collect mail from a post office in exactly the same position relative to the road that it’s been in for years.

Rick