Saturday, March 31, 2012

Beware Suburbia!



We went, recently, away with friends. Skiing had been on the agenda but a spell of the most beautiful un-New-York-in-March type weather meant that the region was in an unusual state of suspended animation - the ski runs were closed but the summer attractions had yet to open. The gloriously high temperatures were sending visitors like us off in search of ice-cream only to find the Closed 'til April signs still propped in windows, coated with winter dust. A day trip was planned. Saratoga Springs - quite splendid! We had been in the car for a good fifteen minutes when the inevitable happened: "Are we nearly there yet?"
I replied in my best patient Mum voice, "Look at the houses, I would guess that we're right on the edge of town, wouldn't you?"
"What does 'on the edge of town' mean?"
Striving really hard for patience this time, "Well, what do you think it means?"
A moment's pause, then from under lowered lashes in a tone that suggests he knew oh! so much better: "That we're going to fall off."

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Such a big girl!

Initial trepidation

How clever I am !

Get off!

Starting to get bored....

Totally over it now


Who's the pretty girl in the mirror there?

All done!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Follow me!

So this blogging thing, right, most of us do it 'cos we love it. But always a little, tiny part of us wants other people to love it too. Or just be bothered to read it once in a while. But we do like to know these things and one way in which we come to know these things is through people who become Members or Follow our blogs. It is SOOOO easy, I just know you can do it. It takes 2 minutes or less, and it is SOOOOOO rewarding! Just think of the smile on my face when I find out that you read my blog! Worth every second of that 2 minutes, no? All you have to do is click on the Join this Site button, and if you don't have one, create a Google account. STOP! Before you decide not to! All you have to do is put in your e-mail address that's all! Nothing too scary except maybe a password, but once it's done you don't ever have to bother with it again! I promise! Why not give it a try?

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

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.