Hurray, my brother’s birthday card at last arrived in Canada on July 20, having taken 29 days to get there.

The Russian balloon took 11 days to go round the globe. In 1953, when my father emigrated to America, we used to receive letters within a week and parcels in three to four weeks by surface mail. It seems technology has thrown us backwards.

Last year, on October 15, my sister-in-law posted a calendar and Christmas card by surface mail. It arrived in Malta on December 1 and Maltapost did not deliver it, so on New Year’s Eve I received a final notice to go and pick my parcel up from the Sliema post office. If not, they would send it back to Canada.

So I went to Sliema post office and complained that I had not received any notice from them.

On January 4, I complained to head office and on January 6 an official told me he was going to see to it that they do not do it again.

I am holding on to the envelope with the stamp showing when it left Canada and when it arrived in Malta.

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