Post it notes.
The first postage stamp was the Penny Black introduced in 1840. This stamp in pristine condition can be worth £2000. When left in a pocket of your jeans and put through a 40C wash it is then worth less than its original value.
There remains an old statute from 1869 that if your postman is bitten by your dog he has the right to demand a bath and a massage from the mistress of the household.
Postman’s bags shrink in the cold weather and there is a real fear about the possibility of white Christmases amongst all postal workers and their wives.
The pillar box in Piccadilly Circus in London became so popular with tourists in the 1920’s that it had to be emptied several times a day. In 1942 it was blown up by a bomb and during the restoration a conveyor belt was installed in a chamber underneath it that takes mail directly to the sorting office in St Martins Lane. The savings the Post Office has made so far amount to approximately £670,000.
The favourite method of trying to kill husbands in Walthamstow is for the wife to add arsenic to the back of stamps.
The highest rate of suicide attempts amongst postal workers is at the post office in Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch in Wales. This coincided with the appointment of ‘Dyslexic David’ who was the head postmaster for many years. He wondered why so many of his co-workers topped themselves but he put it down to the water supply.
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(Hmmm. Looks up estate agents and removal firms in Walthamstow. Lo,TG Ed)
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Stumble It!
11 Comments
Is that all a Penny Black is worth?
I am alarmed at the news about shrinking posty sacks…. what is the world coming to… I think I will go back to bed
There were something like 68,000,000 printed – you can pick one up for a tenner – in poor condition.
Mmmmmmmm – aren’t you meant to be going to work? ….
You reminded me of Walthamstow Greyhound Stadium,
and I lost a fortune on these 2 in a double at
Greyhound Racing The Meadows Fields For Wednesday 16th May 2009 in the 7th and 8th races:
4 24361 RECKLESS SURFER NBT P C Anderton
5 76511 PAPER PENNY NBT A M A Modra
Do I just put the bill in to your Fracretary as usual?
Go through the usual procedure GW, in triplicate with DNA samples, using cleft sticks, any photographic evidence available and a suitable bribe.
Fraccy will take it from there …….
postman’s bags shrink in the cold?
It’s a well known fact …. you of all people should know this …. being ‘medical’ an’ all ……
All those (failed) applications i’ve put in, they never once mentioned it – no WONDER they’re going on strike!
By the way DP, did I ever tell you that Davy ‘the chimp with the trowel’ is a close personal friend of Stanley Gibbons?
I used to love Stanley Gibbons!!!! ….. not in ‘that’ way of course …… I wonder what happened to my collection? …..
So then – how do I find out what a war office German phrase book is worth – in as pristeen condition as poss, of course????
You could have a good Google Kate or, alternatively you could send it to me …. I could go to £1 – sight unseen – I trust you …… *looks innocently up to the heavens*
I’ve googled it to death and asked several people… priceless apparently – yours is the best offer so far!!
*rubs hands in anticipation*
Oh Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch……. I am bored !!!!
Are you at work!!!!?!!! – tsk
Now spell it without ‘copy’ and ‘paste’ …… tee hee
even I can’t speel thta bdaly hee hee
I’m sure if you made a real effort …….
How cold is cold before a postman’s bags shrink?
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
Woww. My tongue is in a hopeless twist now.
*but still immensely enjoying your history lessons*
If I was a postman [which I was at Christmas time when at college] anything below about 10C ……..
It’s a mad name for a tiny village ain’t it? The Welsh are slightly deranged of course ….. tee hee
“…if your postman is bitten by your dog”
this is a common myth. their pants always smell of liverwurst sandwich so its actually the pants we are biting, not the biped inside.
Thank you for that inside knowledge Nooter …. it’ll be a great comfort to all the scarred postman in the world …….
‘postmEn’ …. tsk DP ….. oh well
‘Postperson’ or ‘Listonoszy’ is probably more accurate DP *double tsk*
I can’t be doing with all that nonsense ….. perhaps I’ll settle for ‘postguy’ – seems to cover all ‘arrangements’ nowadays …..
And anyway, just because there’s a post strike it doesn’t mean everyone can put nothing on their blog……….I’m working on about 6 at the moment…….
I’ve just seen your angora shiver ……
Not a lot of people have, it’s getting dressed soon too.
When I see that stamp, I’m sure there’s a Moneypenny comment in there somewhere… Oh and as for “Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch”… I had begun to wonder if while you were dictating you had choked on a blowtorch-ripened tomato. Hee Hee.
See, chaos theory at work. Your comment has just reminded me that the TG wanted one of those kitchen blow torches …… excellent, that completes my Christmas shopping list – I like to think ahead …..
Happy to have added to the chaos…
Paragraph 4 is the reason email was really invented. That and shrinking sacks. I bet there’s plenty of happy mailmen on that side of the pond with the belt.
I actually do have a good friend who is a postman. Health and safety people are causing a lot of trouble at the moment ‘because of the dangers of lifting’. It’s increased his working hours by up to 2 hours a day – no more pay of course ………