The simple joys of a letterbox

It's true. I like security as much as the next person.

Over the last 6 months or so, there have been numerous times where I've expected things to come in the mail, and they haven't. Some of them little things, some of them a bit bigger.

There was a CD, and a gas bill, and a membership card, and mail from a friend, and another CD...

The crazy thing about this was, the very first thing to go missing - a CD I'd bought on eBay - turned up. For some bizarre reason it took 3 months to make it's way here from Canada (hardly the most remote country on earth), but it's a pretty reasonable assumption that the problem wasn't my letterbox. Yet the seed of doubt was planted.

My rickety, wooden letterbox. With a catch that didn't work very well, at least not when people shoved enormous amounts of junkmail into it. At least twice I found my REAL mail dropped on the ground.

My small letterbox, that was obviously part of the problem.

My letterbox right next to a path frequented by lots of children. Including someone who had written 'HI THERE' on it in chalk. Closer to the path than any other box in the street, I think. So easy to duck a hand around the back and open it...

The vast majority of the things that didn't turn up, could easily be because of other reasons. One official letter I didn't receive, I became reasonably certain afterwards that it was never sent. The same was possibly true of some other items. Only one piece of fairly personal mail - where I can trust that it really was sent - appears to have lost its way.

But it all became too much. I had to get a new letterbox.

And I did. Dad helped me (okay, I helped Dad) put it in place on Saturday. Metal. Good looking ('heritage green', they call it). Bigger, with a nice wider slot. Deep enough so you can't peer in the slot to see what's in there. With a separate holder for junk mail.

LOCKABLE.

Every day since, I've found myself giddy with delight over something in my letterbox. It's nuts, but I simply can't stop myself. Sunday, it was my first piece of junk mail - because the person put it in the junk mail holder! Needless to say the next guy/gal just shoved theirs in the box like always, but that first day I was fairly whooping in excitement. Besides, there's room for shoved in junk mail now, and a nice solid back that won't spill other things out as a result.

Monday was my first piece of addressed mail - a catalogue I get every couple of months. Tuesday was a letter from my bank that I'd been vaguely wondering about. More smiles. It was here, and it was safe.

TODAY, though, takes the cake. Not only did I get the replacement CD for the one that never did arrive (and this one took less than a week to get here), my new credit card was in there. I've been grinning for a couple of hours now, wanting to say "look, something someone might really want to steal, and it was safe in the letterbox!"

[Which reminds me, why would anyone, even a kid, want to steal a gas bill? Surely not? Stay tuned for when the next quarterly bill is due to arrive for an update.]

I want to hug my letterbox.

But instead I am going to spend the evening watching the Australian Open with the sound down, and listening to my brand new recording of Tori Amos live in London with a gospel choir. And I will be smiling.