Royal Post

Speaking of Scotland, this is just an aside to point out that as much as we complain about our postal systems, sometimes they do "work"—just not always quickly.

On May 22, we stopped by the combination grocer/post office on Islay to mail home a box of miscellaneous things. It was a small shop and we were directed to the "post office" which was on the same counter three feet from the cash register for the store. Our one box was just a little too heavy to be considered "small parcel" and would cost double what two small parcels would cost, so we divided the goods into two boxes. Allow 4-6 weeks we were told.

About three weeks ago, or two months later, box one arrived. As we were driving back from Seattle Thursday night, I happened to comment on the fact that box number two had not arrived. Our stopped mail was delivered yesterday and, you guessed it: there was box two.

It took close to three months but we have our two boxes, which is good because Tom would have looked silly walking around with just one shoe...