The GirlAlive Blog

Okay, so I've gotten used to a lot of British stuff. Raisins in every dessert seem normal now. I've gotten used to men drinking tea. I've even gotten used to just automatically expecting every British male under thirty to be an asshole (and to being pleasantly surprised when I encounter the rare ones who aren't). But the one thing I cannot get used to is the post office.

If you're American, you have a certain idea of what a post office does. It is a place you go to mail things. When I go to the USPS web site, I'm greeted with headings like "plan a shipment", "find a zip code". Under "products and services" there are headings like, "mailing & shipping", "postage & options" and "receiving mail". They do a few other things, like selective service registration and passport renewal. But getting letters and packages from one place to another is the main thing. When you go there, there are things for sale, like stamps and packing supplies, and sometimes they get fancy and sell postcards.

By contrast, if you go to the British Post Office web site, the heading of the page is, "Savings, Life Insurance, Foreign Currency". The headings on that page are "Money & Insurance", "Broadband & Phone", "Travel", and then as almost an afterthought, "Letters and Parcels". The post office does everything. If you want foreign currency, go to the post office. If you want insurance, go to the post office. If you want to pay your gas bill or top up your mobile phone, go to the post office. And on top of all that, they sell all manner of crap there. There are the usual post office things like packing supplies, but there are also greeting cards, wrapping paper, toys, knitting and sewing supplies, costume jewelry, handbags, and calendars.

On the surface, you might be thinking, "That's great, being able to do all those things in one place." But keep in mind that you have to stand in line with everyone who is doing any of those things. I've had to go to the post office two days in a row and the line stretches out the door every time you go there. Yesterday I was in line between a man who was paying his gas bill and buying socks, and a woman who was collecting her pension payment and shopping for birthday cards. I was the only one there who was actually mailing something.

I have really come to hate and dread the post office here, because I know from living in America that going to the post office doesn't have to be that horrible. It can be a clean and efficient process involving sending and recieving of packages only. I think I miss American post offices almost as much as I miss American peanut butter. (And by the way, thanks for the jars of Skippy for my birthday David and Nikki and Kris.)

Alana