Butterflies and Parcels

Not sure I've experienced it before: +14°C (57°F) with snow still covering the ground in many places. Strange! And I swear a saw a butterfly! although I was too far away from it to determine what kind. Seemed rather big and dark, so possibly a Red Admiral - I was just reading about those the other day and it seems they do hibernate and sometimes come out early. From its aimless fluttering over the middle of a town street I got the impression it was feeling a bit confused. Probably regretted getting out of bed, because there would still be some difficulties finding any breakfast...

Myself I've been to the supermarket twice. First in the morning, and then again in the afternoon, because the supermarket is also nowadays the post office.

Ordering things on the internet is simple, but the actual delivery is sometimes another matter. In this case, a couple of books. On the internet order form I chose a private delivery service, and to pick up the parcel at a small shop close to where I live. Then I got one of those double-checking questions: "Are you sure? Because according to our information, that's not the closest place to where you live." Well, excuse me! I live here. Trust me, it would be the most convenient place for me to pick up the parcel; that's why I chose it. Even if the zip code might indicate something else.

Okay, they seemed to accept that. Then I got an email: They had packed my books, and were feeling confident that the parcel was small enough to fit into my mailbox, so they were going to send it as a letter through the post. Well, good for them, although I did not quite share their confidence. Then I got a cheerful text message from the Post Office: They just wanted to let me know that a letter had been handed in to them and was on its way to me. Isn't that nice? Being made such a fuss of, you almost begin to feel like an Important Customer, having ordered something really Valuable. But then of course today they ruined the illusion by another text message, in a harsher tone of voice: They could not deliver my letter. If I wanted it, I had to come and get it.

Ah well. Never mind. Two weeks ago it would have caused me problems. Today, with spring in the air and the pavements ice-free - not so much. Even if I really do think the parcel/letter would have fitted into my mailbox (=slit in the door)...

Rocket Post

Yesterday afternoon I suddenly found myself, for no apparent reason, without internet connection. What?! Why?! Help!!!

I confess: I have become an addict. I can no longer function without the WWW! Without access to it, I feel completely lost and out of touch with the rest of humanity!!!

Also have to confess, though, that the initial panic did not last all that long. After all, even though feeling a bit snowed in at the moment, I live right in the middle of civilization; and the only thing not in working order was the internet. Electricity, TV, phones etc were all working just fine.

So while waiting to see if the internet would sort itself out, I decided to watch something sobering to put things into perspective.

Nothing better for the purpose than the British film The Rocket Post (which I have on DVD).

The story is loosely based on experiments in the 1930s to provide a postal service by rocket mail to the island of Scarp off the coast of Scotland. (In those days, they did not yet have telephones on Scarp, and they were feeling a wee bit isolated.) For this purpose, a German inventor, Gerhard Zucker, was employed. Being German, he was of course received with some scepticism by the islanders; and at the same time, the German government was not too pleased with one of their own providing technology for the British. The story in the film focuses on this tension - and, of course, on a romantic love story... The making of the film was also surrounded by a bit of drama in itself, because while it was shot in 2001, it was not released until 2006 - three years after the death of the director, Stephen Whittaker.

Rocket mail, exciting though it may have sounded back in the 1930s, never became a big success. (And certainly not on the island of Scarp.)

However, one phrase used in the film hit me as I watched it yesterday. It was in some conversation comparing telephone vs. rocket mail: "Aye, but you cannot send letters by telephone."

Haven't we come a long way since then!!!

After watching the film, I unplugged my modem, plugged it in again - and voilà! I found myself once more reunited with the world wide web...

(PS. Photo of fireworks taken by me at New Year; not from the film.)