It's a while since we had a post office story on Sicily Scene and this one comes via a friend who lives in Marina di Ragusa:
Not having received Christmas cards that friends in the UK had posted in early December, my friend went to her local post office to ask if there was any undelivered mail for her last week. The clerk said that there was not and then, when asked if he could check, that it was not his job to do so.
Yesterday, therefore, my friend went to the main postal distribution centre for Ragusa, where she was informed that if she telephoned them they would check and get the postman to deliver. My friend said she knew there was post and wanted to collect it herself. This caused much deliberation among the employess but finally they agreed to check and produced no less than 29 Christmas cards, a magazine, a letter and a bill which had to be paid that very day. The excuse for non-delivery? "Well, it's holiday time."
Hey, Ragusa - we're British and we want our Christmas cards!
Lest you should imagine that the local post is much more efficient, the employees at Ragusa confirmed my friend's suspicion that all post in the Province with a local address goes to Catania [which constitutes another Province] to be franked and is then sent back to the towns of origin for delivery.
"Time stops at Messina".
"Time stops at Messina".
4 comments:
I hope that the people who were expecting the bill payment would accept the fact that it is a holiday as an excuse for late payment!!!
Why am I not surprised?
Here in the States, there is talk of eliminating hundreds/thousands of rural post offices. If it happens, this town will suffer immensely.
Profits do tend to keep efficiency as a goal post!
§I think they would have to, Cherie. That is happening in Britain, too, Rosaria and it hits elderly people without transport particularly hard. Such a sad sign of our times. Quite so, Nick!
It's not just Sicily.
Relatives who live in Cyprus (on Cyprus?) have received no Christmas mail at all, to date. No cards, no parcels, nothing.
Apparently, the Cypriots blame the Greeks, who in turn blame the Turks, who in turn blame Royal Mail.
This really is the 21st century, you know! Send an email...
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