Above and beyond

We have an American mailbox - unsurprising really! It's on the other side of the road from our house, with all the other mailboxes on our very long road. The Mail Carriers (I know, but that's what they are called!) like it that way. It means they can deliver the mail without getting out of their natty little trucks. Which, incidentally, are right hand drive so that said mailboxes can be easily reached. Anyway...mailboxes here have a little red flag on the side that can be raised or lowered by the owner. This is to indicate to the mail carrier that there is mail inside which needs to be collected. Collected, that's right. The mail carrier not only delivers mail but picks it up as well. So, you raise the flag, the mail carrier stops, collects the mail and lowers the flag. Easy. Unless it has been snowing.
Let me explain. Snow ploughs in this part of the world are enormous. Huge. Gi-bungous. And their job is to clear the roads of snow. And not just the roads; these fearless drivers like to clear the hard shoulder as well. And if your mailbox door happens to get in the way of such dedication to detail then it doesn't stand a chance. In fact, it can be removed in one unceremonious drive-by. It was in such a way that our mailbox was rendered door less. And we know it was a plough because several other boxes along the way had their doors removed during the same snowstorm. Over-enthusiasm at it's best. The road was very, very clear of snow though.
So....one day I put my little pre-stamped envelope into the mailbox, dutifully raised the flag and thought nothing more of it. Until, wait for it - my mail carrier rang me up, yup, rang up our house, on the phone, to identify a problem. She had noticed the red flag and stopped to pick up the mail but - da-da-daaaaaa! - no mail was to be found! She cast an eye around the locality and spotted a very sorry looking blue envelope in the drainage channel. And she rang me up to tell me! Awesome!
What a lovely lady! Not only did she remember one incident from her hours long day of mail carrying but she got back to base, looked for our phone number, and rang me up to tell me of the problem. Still shocks me to the core.
So, I would like to say a huge thank you to the dedication of the staff of the USPS! Thanks guys, you're the best mail carriers I've ever met.