“The post-man has just dropped off something for you at the gate…”
The voice came from one of the carpenters working on our build site, as I walked by the woodshed this morning. He’s a local New Zealander, who pronounces many words the way one would expect, because that’s just the way it is.
For example,his rendition “post-man” instead of my preferred “post-min”.
He thinks I’m strange. After all, the word has a huge “A” in it, not an “uh.” He shrugs and walks on. I cannot argue with the guy – perhaps I’m wrong, after all. Those stupid junior school teachers who mis-taught me, the fools…
At the gate I find this bright yellow waterproof canvas bag. I recognise it as belonging to the Postie – I instantly recognise it, as previously he’d delivered some DVD sets from a mail order company for us, and then had asked for his bag back next day.
The parcel was a huge surprise for Jeanette – a birthday gift from our dear friend Frankie in Cape Town. The box had a good length of black and white sticker all along the top – SARS which is the South African Revenue Service Customs acronym and font style.
One might expect that the New Zealand Customs may want to examine incoming parcels for collection of customs duty or GST, or perhaps for strange or illicit contents. Why the SA authorities would want to open it before leaving the country… I am still puzzled.
