Letterbox

We have been challenged by the postal service. It seems that some of our mail is being delivered direct to the house rather than to our p o box. This is creating some trauma for the current postie. Three years ago, we had a letterbox but our old postie suggested that we should get a p o box because she would be unable to deliver to the house when it snowed in winter. So we did the right thing, rented a p o box, issued "change of address" notifications to all and sundry and took the letterbox off the tree near the entrance barrier to our property. For the 3 years we were away, we continued to rent the p o box and only recently renewed the rental for 2014. However, since our return to Italy, some utility/communication companies have required a physical address for initial billing rather than a p o box. These are the letters that have recently been delivered to our house. In the absence of a letterbox, our current postie slots our mail behind the "proprieta privata" sign on the barrier. When the barrier is closed, she also has to do what must be a "10 point turn" on our one-lane driveway to get back out of the valley. Twice over the past week, she has left handwritten notes. The first told us to get a letterbox; the last told us that our correspondence had been returned to the post office because there was no letterbox and because the road was barred. Ominously, the last contained exclamation marks. So Stu spent yesterday morning finding the old letterbox, which he then reattached to the tree before I painted a big "24" on it. We will now have to advise the post office that we have a letterbox...again...as well as continue to pay for our p o box...

The notice from the postie

 

Our newly installed old letterbox, with number hand-painted by me

 

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