Chasing the Postie

[drscott]

In honour of Canada (and all things Scottish, from which about half of Canada's distinct Anglophonic quirks come), we'll use Canadianisms for a few paragraphs. Which suits, since J. K. Rowling's latest Potter book just arrived, and Ms. Rowling is a resident of Edinburgh [pronounced "Ed'-un-buttah"].

I was sitting at my desk waking up when the postie drove up, white pith helmet, light blue shirt, squat boxy vehicle and all. I could see him walk toward the front door, then there was silence for thirty seconds. I was reviewing my email, and assumed he was dropping the book off -- Amazon orders that come via USPS are never signed for. Then he returned to his truck and drove off.

A minute or two later, I roused myself and went to the mailbox. What's this? -- a notice of delivery and no book. I am directed to pick it up at the freakin' Post Office Monday. How convenient! [fume, fume] -- so instead i hopped into the car and went looking. Luckily he hadn't gone far, just a block down the street. Accusingly I waved the receipt and said, "You didn't even ring the doorbell!" He said he had but that there had been no answer. Likely, eh?

Book in my hands, I returned home. Here's the first full review I've seen.

Comments

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

Obviously, he didn't ring the doorbell. Lazy SOB. :-)

But in the end, I'm glad you have the book in your hands to read.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

Sounds like an exerpt from Dr. Scott and the Puzzling Postman.

Perchance an evil spell was cast upon the door chime?

[dr-scott.livejournal.com]

I checked it. Works fine. One of the problems we have is people who knock; the outer door leads to our atrium, so if someone knocks on it, you can't hear anything inside the house. I've been tempted to put on sign on the door pointing out the doorbell, but that would be ugly.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

Ah, sounds like something worthy of another book, like Dr. Scott and the Eichler Acoustics or Dr. Scott and the Cursed Doorbell. lol

I'm eagerly waiting for Dr. Scott and the Muscled Couple. *g*

[excessor.livejournal.com]

I haven't heard of the last book. Is it a pictorial?

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I sure as hell hope so! *g*

[billeyler.livejournal.com]

We put a "BELL" sticker on the door years ago, since you can't hear the knocks here in the Brady Bunch house.

Had the same situation with our female postal delivery worker (can't call her a mailman). Was at home waiting anxiously for a delivery and had the same thing happened; a delivery notice was left and no doorbell. The following Monday had to trek over to the post office (2 miles away) and wait 30 minutes in line for the package. Which of course I wouldn't have had to do if the FPDW had bothered to ring the bell, located 3 inches to the right of the mailbox.

Although not overly excited about the new HP book (I haven't slogged all the way through the murk of book 5 yet), we met someone last night that hasn't even read one of them! Since we figured this was physically impossible and a sacrilege to the Bookbinding Gods, we considered holding him down and reading the first few chapters of book one to him. But we figured it was too "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," so we relented and let him dust himself off and go on his way.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

female postal delivery worker (can't call her a mailman)

Best term I've heard: Postal Packin' Mama!

[billeyler.livejournal.com]

I LIKE it! ;-) How's the feet issue?

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Unchanged - I get more info at MRI-review appointment Tuesday.

[allanh.livejournal.com]

How about a sign saying "Knock out of order. Please bell." ?

(Or "Door out of order. Please ring."?)

[ozdachs.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on catching the mailman and getting the book!

Impulsive clicker that I am, I started on the review. After a paragraph I stopped and said, WAIT! I don't want to know anything about the book until we start reading it.

Gotta wait until the super-saving shipping delivers and we're ready for HP as the next bed-time book.

[tdjohnsn.livejournal.com]

I just got an e-mail saying ours has shipped. I'm glad we are not the only ones who look forward to them when they are released.

[excessor.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you were able to get the book. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to make a return trip to the bookstore.

[typographer.livejournal.com]

We didn't pre-order and I wasn't planning to pick it up until after the hysteria died down...

...then a bookstore that Michael does some IT work for called this morning because they were convinced they had a virus. Since it's only a few blocks away, he headed over.

They had plugged a keyboard into the wrong plug.

So, chagrined, they gave him some free books, one of which was the new Harry Potter.

[furrbear.livejournal.com]

The Airborne guys try that "I rang the bell" gimmick. Not very believable since Mom is usually in the living room reading.

I received an email from Barnes&Noble with an UPS tracking number Thursday. UPS to deliver on a Saturday? Yeah, right. Turns out the UPS delivery was to the local USPS station who then dropped it off in the box today.

[fuzzygruf.livejournal.com]

Seeing your post, I almost skipped going out to enjoy the sunshine so that I wouldn't miss the postman. I decided that sunshine was better.

I did miss the postman, but luckily, Rowling shaved enough pages off this one so that it fit through the mail slot on the door, so it was waiting for me when I returned home. Whew!

[champdaddy.livejournal.com]

Our mailperson is pretty good about ringing the bell, but if not, the P.O. is just down the street. However, I'd like to throttle the lying sumbitch UPS guy.

[ptownnyc.livejournal.com]

"And then the lord commanded that thee smacketh the postal lackey about the head"

Yeah, I've had that scenario. The problem is, the post office is so far across Brooklyn where I have to pick things up, it is absolute torture.