Day 138 - Mailbox

 MAILBOX

Prompt - Mailbox: Write something based on a recent item of mail you've received

In a year that's been short on excitements in life, devoid of live entertainments or the pleasures of eating out, some elements of the mundane have taken on a new significance.  One of these has been the arrival of mail.  And while the sound of an envelope or small package falling from the letter box has seen us perk up and look in wonder at one another (even when we know the actual contents are likely to be a disappointment...), it is as nothing to the thrill of hearing a sound that can only mean one thing.  The doorbell going means there is a parcel too big to slip through the slot, or it needs evidence of delivery.  In lockdown life those have been moments to savour.

Such has been their impact that I have found myself ordering items I don't really need (even if I do want them) just for that buzz that delivery brings.  Even if the postie has left whatever it is on the door mat, and got away as quick as, the occasion has retained it's power to please, despite the lack of actual human contact.  It doesn't matter if the parcel was not for me, but for my wife, the power of the moment remained the same.

Now that the pandemic lockdown rules are beginning to ease, and the world, at least locally, is returning to some kind of 'normal' (and in the knowledge that this easing might yet prove to have to be temporary), the postie's arrival might not have quite the same significance in social terms, but there is still plenty to be excited about.  I know I will have several deliveries over the coming months, albeit most to an uncertain timescale, and each one promises something new in my life.

The biggest of these items, which should appear before the end of June, is an ebike.  I haven't cycled at all for about eight years.  I haven't cycled in Edinburgh for more than four decades.  So it will be a near new experience for me.  It's for no purpose other than pleasure, so I'm no hurry, but it would be good to enjoy some of the summer months in the saddle.  However it's been on 'order', since last April.  The reason for the long lead time, and for the quotation marks, is that it's a pledge on a crowdfunding site.  There are always question marks associated with their timescales, but this one seems to be coming to a close in the near future.  That will be a big moment.

Many of those items I'm expected are also crowdfunding pledges.  One which delivered recently was associated with the cycling I plan to do.  A helmet that has inbuilt lighting and indicators.  But buying a bike means I have to purchase a few more accessories, to keep it and me safe.  So this week's postie excitement will be twofold.  On Thursday I expect delivery of a couple of heavy duty D rings which can be fitted to the floor and wall of our garage, to enable the bike to be well chained up.  And on friday the large drill bit I need to fit those hefty rings.  I have one padlock already, but another couple need to be purchased in the coming weeks, as will a bell.  Other associated items have already been bought.

So the postie is anticipated, and although the contents of the packages won't be the most exciting in themselves, they presage interesting times ahead.  My eagerness to answer the doorbell remains strong.