I waited for about nine weeks for a post that would have lasted for a tiny fraction of 24 hours via electronic mail. Well, this could be what makes the system more momentous for our fathers in comparison to our current fast-paced societies. The long period of wait for a letter to travel from one end to the other is an incredible experience: within this period emotions rise and fall, then settle for a while. It suddenly goes up again on receiving a phone call from the post office.
Last year, I had posted two letters to two readers subscribed to this newsletter on 12th and 18th November respectively. Recall that in the last episode of the post office series I made a call for anyone who is willing to read a handwritten letter from me; I wanted to put the system to test. Both letters were responses to the interests indicated by these subscribers. The first post was to southern Nigeria while the last was to Jos East. I am resident in Jos North.
I was told by the attendant at the post office that it takes three days, at most, for a post to arrive its destination. Holding him by his word, I was expectant of phone calls or texts from both recipients to be informed that they had received their mails but to no avail. By reason, I delayed revisiting the post office on the 16th November until the day I was ready to post the other.
In calm, I reeled out my displeasure with the unexpected delay and got no explanation in return. Not without uncertainty, I posted the second letter. If the one which was several hundred miles away hasn’t arrived on the said date (3 days maximum), how long would it take the one which is a fraction of that distance? I wondered.
Given the first experience, I visited a week after; I got no update from either recipients. The post office could not explain why they had not delivered as promised. Perhaps I had not exhausted the curriculum for patience which the post office offers. My plan for surprise was busted: I had to call both recipients on subsequent visits to check the post office nearest their residences to see if their letters had arrived. I had to call each recipient once in every week for three weeks; they must have associated my phone calls with a plea to visit the post office. Thankfully, they were both hopeful as I was and never relented in checking the post office.
The disappointment from the post office was one of my big hurts in the previous year; I had no photo shots of both letters–I had only minute details of both content in my head. Eventually, I resorted to electronic mails. I wrote both recipients via e-mail before the year rounded up while encouraging them to keep hope alive that the letter eventually arrives. However, I had no anchor for that hope; not in the system, certainly.
In the first two weeks of this year, I received repetitive phone calls from the recipient in Jos East. All were information about his receiving parcels delivered by some other shipping agencies that were private-run. One had a parcel from abroad, delivered in less than a month, which was the initial proposal made by the company. Each phone call left me in a state of mixed feelings and some expressions of disappointments. The phone call I got from him on Tuesday, 11th January, 2022 was different.
‘Hello. . . . I was just called by the management of the hospital I wrote as the postal address for the letter. They asked me to come for a letter addressed to me’.
I was taken off guard by that update. I prayed it was the letter I had sent him since the previous year.
The long wait was over. . . . Though the system provided no reasons to be hopeful, reasons to be sometimes seems illogical. And they always don’t make sense until the end result shows the wait was worth it.
The other recipient is yet hopeful to receive a phone call from the post office, especially now that she is aware that the other fellow has received his.
When was the last time you wrote someone a letter? Well, you could try after now. You don’t have to use the post office. E-mail saves you the stress you put up with in using the post office. However, the intricacies of the postal services offers a more heartfelt human experience. Writing by hand is delightful to date; it can never go extinct!
Yes! It Can't. I love that you made the effort.
I talked about letter writing on my wall sometime ago. It's really beautiful only that it is considered to be out of date now.