Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Return to Sender


This is our West Hampstead tube station. I love the little waiting room with the curved glass wall, where that woman is sitting and applying her makeup. It's very deco, isn't it? I've never spent a moment of time in that waiting room -- I've never even stepped inside it -- but t's a nice architectural feature.

Yesterday was a busy day, but mostly routine. I had to call the local council office because, for some reason, an extra recycling bin has shown up in the alley beside our house. I swear, managing our trash bins is practically a full-time job. I suspect it's Mrs. Kravitz's and she doesn't want it anymore, so like any good neighbor (!) she's shoved it onto our property. We now have five bins, which is entirely too many, so I asked the council to take the extra one away. I'll put a sign on it so they know which one to take, and as fair warning to Mrs. Kravitz (or whoever owns/owned it) that it's about to disappear.

We had a couple of letters show up in the mail to previous tenants of our address. They seemed like they could be bills or financial statements or something important, so I wrote "Return to Sender" on the envelopes, circled the recipient's name and wrote next to it, "Not at this address." Then I dropped them in a post box on the way to work. I'm not sure that really does anything, but I learned many years ago that's the way to deal with misdirected mail. Do you suppose the post office actually returns it?

12 comments:

Yorkshire Pudding said...

Royal Mail do try their best to return mail to senders IF they can see a return address on the reverse of the envelope. It is illegal for them to open such letters.

Ms. Moon said...

That is an incredibly cool picture, Steve.
No idea about the mail. I sometimes get mail for former holders of my PO box and it's not unusual for the post mistress to put mail addressed to another PO box in mine. I hand those back to her and she takes them with an expression as if it were my fault somehow that she'd gotten the mail in the wrong box.
Sigh.

Linda d said...

That is a lovely station. I think I would have to go inside though.

Sharon said...

I never thought about that mail situation before but, I do exactly the same thing when the mail looks important. I remember arriving and leaving from that tube station but, I guess I wasn't paying much attention to the architecture. You are right, it's quite attractive.

Anonymous said...

That seems like the best way to return mail. I do think the post office tries to get stuff to where it belongs. Lovely architecture at the train station.

ellen abbott said...

yeah, very cool tube station. who knows if the mail gets returned. at least you make the effort.

Catalyst said...

Yes, I like the look of that station, too. I remember the tube trains in London, Paris and Munich from our tour in '85. I was very impressed by all of them. In Paris, the Louvre station has art on the walls.

Vivian said...

Women who put on their make up in public is one of my biggest pet peeves. (The term "pet peeve" is also one of my hugest pet peeves but what is the alternative? Using "bite noir" is too pretentious.) I think it's disgusting, and I'm not just saying that as a cranky Boomer II. I heartily endorse the use of make up, especially for my cohort, but I don't care if you are dewy and fresh-faced you are or if you are a crone: it is revolting to have to see a woman put on her make up in public and if I see you doing it I will feel free to say something. After all, by treating our shared public space as your bathroom you have invited me to become part of your ablutions, which I happen to have an opinion about.

Vivian said...

I forgot to add that I love this photo. I'm so happy that you got the train coming/going. *Sigh* It's beautiful.

The Bug said...

I love the photo too. Very satisfying, somehow.

We used to get mail for former residents at our last house. I found out that if I didn't scribble through the bar code or it would come right back to us. I do know that mail gets returned because my company gets returned mail all the time.

John Going Gently said...

The deco stations of west London are indeed lovely Osterley is stylish too

jenny_o said...

That IS a lovely little spot! I'm glad you share your pictures here; I've learned and seen a lot I'd never have known about otherwise.