There’s a post office next to the shop.
There is?
Yes.
It doesn’t look like a post office.
What does a post office look like?
Not like that, that looks like a wall of post office boxes.
It IS a wall of post office boxes, on one side.
There’s another side?
Yes.
It wasn’t open.
What time did you go?
About 5.
You need to be there at office hours.
What are office hours?
Before five.
It still wasn’t open. There was a broken window between the iron bars, but no one was there.
Did you go in?
In?
Through the door.
There’s a door?
Yes.
It was open! The door was open, a woman was sitting outside on a plastic chair, it was the same colour as the bars over the window.
What happened?
I went in.
And?
She came in, and went behind the counter.
Excellent.
I said Jambo.
Good, as long as she speaks Swahili.
Then I went into English.
That’s ok.
I asked if I could have a stamp for my postcard.
Did she have any?
Yes, so I stuck it on the postcard. It was quite big and covered the name of my sister completely but the address was still visible.
Good.
Except only half of the stamp, stuck. The bottom half curled up.
Not good.
No, but there was a pot of glue on my side of the counter.
Fortunately!
Unfortunately, the top fell off and liquid stick glue went everywhere.
Everywhere?
All over the postcard, the counter, me.
What did you do?
I found a leaflet advertising car rental and tried to clear it up.
Did the woman help?
No.
What happened?
I got the counter reasonablY clean but I was worried that the postcard would stick to someone else’s letter and end up in Mozambique, not Carshalton.
So?
I took it outside and found a wall made of porous concrete.
And?
I used it as a super blotting paper, and I kept blotting until there seemed to be no stickiness left.
On the postcard, what about the wall?
I wouldn’t touch it for a day or two.
Did you post the postcard?
I did, I found a slit in the wall with the word ‘post’ written above it.
Did it arrive in Carshalton I wonder?
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