Vost q-Laste

(after Colin Howard)

T say, I'm pleased to see you,' said the little man standing by the letter­box.

'Oh, hallo,' I said, stopping. 'Simpson, isn't it?'

The Simpsons were newcomers to the town, and my wife and I had only met them once or twice.

'Yes, that's right,' answered Simpson. — 484 —

T wonder if you could lend me some money'. I put my hand into my pocket. 'You see,' he continued, 'my wife gave me a letter to post, and I've just noticed it isn't stamped. It must go tonight — it really must! And I don't think the post office will be open at this time of night, do you?'.

It was about eleven o'clock and I agreed that it wouldn't.

'I thought, you see, I'd get stamps out of the machine,' explained Simpson, 'only I find I have no small change about me.'

'I'm sony, but I'm afraid I haven't either,' I said.

'Oh, dear, dear,' he said.

'Maybe somebody else has,' I said.

'There isn't anyone else'.

We both looked up and down the street, but there was nobody to be seen.

'Yes, well,' I said, intending to move off. But he looked so unhappy standing there with the blue unstamped envelope, that I really couldn't leave him alone.

'I'll tell you what,' I said, 'You'd better walk along with me to my place — it's only a few streets off— and I'll try to find some change for you there.'

'It's really very good of you,' said Simpson.

At home, we managed to find the money he needed. He thanked me and left. I watched him take several steps up the street and then return to me.

'I say, I'm sorry to trouble you again,' he said. 'The fact is we're still quite strangers round here and — well, I'm rather lost, to tell you the truth. Will you tell me the way to the post office?'

I did my best. It took me several minutes to explain to him where the post office was. At the end of that time I felt as lost as Simpson and decided to go along with him. I led the way to the post office. Simpson put a penny into the automatic stamp-machine. The coin passed through the machine, but with no result.

'It's empty,' I explained.

Simpson was so nervous that he dropped the letter on the ground and when he picked it up there was a large black spot on its face.

'Dear me,' he said. 'My wife told me to post the letter tonight. After all it's not so important but you don't know my wife. I had better post it now.'

Suddenly I remembered that I had a book of stamps at home. 'It will be posted,' I said. 'But we'd better hurry, or we'll miss the midnight collection.'

It took rather a long time to find the book of stamps. But when we found it, we saw after all that it was empty. The last thing I could advise him to do was to post the letter unstamped. 'Let the other man pay dou­ble postage on it in the morning'.

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I took him firmly by the arm and accompanied him to the post office in time for the midnight collection. He dropped in his letter, and then, to finish off my job, I took him home.

'I'm so grateful to you, really,' he said when we reached his home. 'That letter — it's only an invitation to dinner, to Mr ... Dear me!'.

'Why, what's the matter?'

'Nothing. Just something I've remembered.'

'What?'

But he didn't tell me He just opened his eyes and his mouth at me like a wounded goldfish, hurriedly said 'Goodnight', and went inside.

All the way home I was wondering what it was he had remembered.

But I stopped wondering the next morning when I had to pay the postman double postage for a blue envelope with a large black spot on its face.

The Post Office

Textl

The General Post Office and local post offices have many duties. They not only deliver letters, telegrams, newspapers and magazines, but, among other things, they pay out old age pensions, subscribe to periodicals and take and deliver parcels.

Inside the post office is a long counter divided into departments for parcels, stamps, registered and air-mail letters, telegrams, money or­ders, etc.

There is a post-box in all post offices, or you can drop your letters and postcards into one of the familiar red and blue post-boxes attached to some houses in the street.

There are several collections a day and your letter will soon reach the addressee.

Do you want to send a telegram? Just ask for a telegram form at the post office counter or take one from the box in the small compartments provided for the writing of telegrams and fill it in.

Perhaps you want to buy a stamp or a stamped envelope to send a letter, then you go to the counter where they sell postcards, envelopes, blocks of stamps- and stamps of different denominations, or get them from the slot machine.

When we have written a letter we sign it, fold it up and put it into an

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envelope. We stick down the flap, write the address of both the addres­see and the sender and stick on a stamp in the upper right-hand corner. Don't forget to write the mailing code — it includes the index number and the post office number which serves the addressee.

If your letter contains anything valuable, it is a good idea to register it. When you register a letter the clerk gives you a receipt and you pay the registration fee.

If you go to the post office to send off a parcel you will have the parcel weighed at the parcel-counter. You may also have your parcel insured if you want to declare its value.

At the post office you can send money by post. You should fill in a money-order form stating the name of the recipient, his address, as well as the sender's address, and the sum of money you are sending. The clerk takes your money together with the money-order and gives you a receipt.

Text 2

The Post Office is a great service industry in Britain and one of the biggest employers in Europe. It employs about one in sixty of all work­ers in this country (17,000 staff). It's made up for four large busines­ses — Posts, Telecommunications, Giro, and Data Processing Services.

The post office gives the services which customers require. Its main task is to deliver mail: newspapers, magazines, telegrams, parcels. Here you can also buy envelopes, stamps, postcards, pay communal services. At a post office you can have some services similar to those available in banks known as the 'National Savings Bank'.

You can find a post office in every town and city, but there are nu­merous sub post offices in suburbs and in smaller places. Sub post offi­ces are smaller and are often part of a general store, but they offer all the usual services.

Now let us pay a visit to a local post office. There are many windows with a notice in big letters showing the operation handled. The first one is marked 'Parcel Post', the next one is 'Money Orders'. Then there's one marked 'Post Restante' (Am. — 'General Delivery'). Going down the line you will see: 'Stamps', 'Post Cards', 'Stamped Envelopes', 'Regi­stered Letters', 'Air Mail'. In some conspicuous places you will find a board with the postal rates. This will give you information about how many stamps are needed for inland and foreign letters, that is how much postage must be paid on those letters. Then somewhere near the en-

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trance you will see a notice giving the hours of delivery. The window marked 'Parcel Post' handles all parcels or packages. Don't forget to insure your parcel if you've got something really valuable in it. This costs to buy a trifle, but makes delivery double sure. The larger post office even maintains a wrapping and packing service.

If you want to send printed matter (newspapers, magazines, books) you'll have to go to the window marked 'Book Post'.

The 'Post Restante' window keeps mail until it is called for.

The post office maintains this service for those who prefer to pick up their mail in person.

If you are in a hurry to post a letter and have no stamps at the mo­ment, that does not keep you from sending it. Just mark it 'Collect' and the addressee pays the postage due.

When sending a letter of particular value you should have it regis­tered (with or without declared value). The advantage of this service is that registered letters are not left with the ordinary mail in the letter box, they are delivered personally (the addressee has to sign for them). The sender is given a receipt at the post office so he can always trace a letter. Of course, there will be a special charge.

The 'Money Orders' window needs almost no explanation. You may send money orders by mail or by telegram and whatever you do, don't lose the receipt.