The Post post

I have been feeling a little guilty for my lack of genuine correspondence with friends recently. By genuine correspondence, I mean a long email to only one recipient at very least, or even better, a proper, handwritten letter. One liners on Facebook don't count, however busy we all proclaim to be these days! This post is a very public thank you to everybody who remembered me this year and a big red-faced sorry for being so utterly useless at returning the favour ... but after reading this, you may understand why!

After returning from the Christmas holidays, I was delighted to find over ten cards sent all the way to Uganda for me and several parcels. The blatant hint on my profile page obviously hit home! Receiving a card or a letter from a friend puts a smile on my face and I like to stick them on my fridge as a reminder of home. I have been meaning to get to the Post Office ever since I got back, but with just the one in the centre of town, which closes at 5pm, it's not as easy as you would think. Imagine my annoyance, when I was told that I was not allowed to send anything to Canada until at least the middle of February, as the US and Canada have put on a temporary ban of receiving goods from Uganda until after the General Election! What can you do?

I think one of my questions for my next international job will be 'how many post offices are there and how far away are they?' Kampala is one up from Bogota, as in my two years there, I never managed to find a single post office or anybody else who knew how to post stuff from there. If you do have even a rudimentary understanding of the Colombian postal service, do fill me in! On the rare occasion that I did send anything from Bogota, I handed the parcel over to the school secretary who was obviously in on the secret!

PO Boxes

I know that people complain about the demise of the Royal Mail, but I really miss having my post dropped through my letterbox in the morning. We have a PO Box number and have to wait in line and show ID just to get our post.

If you ever needed any proof of how antiquated the postal system of Uganda is, then take a look at these photos. Proudly displayed in a case entitled 'Stamp News' are stamps celebrating Prince William's 21st birthday and Princess Diana's visit to Uganda!

I think they had better start thinking about producing the stamps for Prince W's silver wedding anniversary!

Look at the haircuts - not even Princess Diana in her latter days!

Actually, I am being a little unfair. They had totally sold out of the Michael Jackson commemorative stamps today and below is a face from more recent times: