Friday, June 20, 2008

La Poste

I love the way the postal service works in rural France. The postie drives round in a bright yellow van, letting us know that they're in the hamlet by sounding the horn so if one wants to send a letter or buy stamps one can go out to them. When I first arrived the postmistress knocked on the door to welcome me and explain how it works.

Today I had a packet which needed signing for, so the postie pulled up in the drive, sounded the horn, and came into the kitchen. I asked him how to send a registered letter[0]. He said he'd bring the form tomorrow and help me fill it in, and take the letter.

Posties in England used to be like this, but many of them are now so stressed and disenchanted they take it out on customers, and do all kinds of unfriendly things to speed up their work.

[0] A complaint to the electricity company who are trying to take 150 euros a month on direct debit, when I've used about 15 euros' worth of electricity. Unfortunately my experiences with EDF have not been nearly as happy as with La Poste.

No comments: