Posting

Once upon a time,not so many years ago,there were more post offices. Perhaps not on every street corner but within a comfortable walking distance you would usually stumble across a post office.

There used to be a lovely little post office near my mum and dads house and when I moved into the house I'm in now there was a post office about five minutes away from us.

It's not the case now,both those post offices have been closed for many years. I think it's a shame...post offices can be such great little places to go and I know this especially because yesterday I visited our village post office.

Its quite a hike to our village post office now,about half an hours walk from our house,that might not sound too bad but when you count in the half hours walk back you soon realise that it's a considerable walk and something that takes quite a chunk of time up. But sometimes only a post office will do. Especially for parcels and birthdays of faraway friends and more topically Christmas things for faraway friends.

So it was to the post office I went and my dad came too.

Me and my dad rub along fine,we had been swapping Christmas jokes as we walked to the post office,I'm not sure who's was the corniest to be honest,they were all pretty bad,so the mood between us was quite jolly as we walked into the tiny little post office.

It's the kind of place that packs everything into such a small space. A bit like the corner shops of old that I can still remember,the sort of shop that used to close on Sundays....back in the day....

Imagine a Aladdin's cave of stationary and magazines and cards and sweets stacked on shelves that go right up to the ceiling. They run a Christmas club where you can put toys away and pay a bit each week,these ting my memories of my childhood and take me tumbling right back to Spencer Street and Mr Staines  corner shop and of course my grandmas house. Evocative stuff.

There was modern stuff there too. They had a pay point machine and a cash machine so it wasn't all olde worlde. They had tried to keep up with the times and the needs of modern day living.

But oh the atmosphere,woah,that was what my dad and I both noticed. To put it bluntly it was like being wrapped up in a warm cosy blanket and cared for. And I'm not joking.

The staff smiled Genuinely smiled. And they were so helpful,nothing was too much trouble. They even stuck all my dads stamps on his Christmas cards. I said he was a lazy devil but the lady behind the counter just smiled and carried on sticking.

And,don't laugh,this made our day, they offered us mince pies,sherry or orange juice.

Well our faces were a picture. It's not often these days that you go into a shop and get treated so well. Because we are incredibly cheeky we asked if we could take a mince pie for my mum and they said yes! This compounded our feel good factor even more!

We had smiles on our faces as wide as anything by the time we got back to my mum.

And we both said what a great place that post office was.

That is how you gain customers. Without a shred of doubt I would definitely give that post office my custom and I think it's completely won my dad over. He was saying how it compared to the post office in town where he goes with my mum. And there is NO comparison.

I think that's the beauty of living in a village,the local shops have still got that feel of the past to them. They genuinely care about the customers and it's not a rushed atmosphere,they converse with you and for a lot of people that bit of interaction could be the only chat they have for hours,it's invaluable.

So it's yay to local post offices and yay to village shops and yay to free mince pies!