postage

 At the post office there is a notice on barrier between the space where the telling machines are and the space where the normal post office is. The notice on the lowered barrier informs anyone who is interested that the personell are on strike, today and tomorrow. This would give them all an extended weekend.

Two of the items fit into the letter box, so put them in. With the one remaining item go to a nearby supermarket which has a parcel office in the corner. It is a short walk through a strange part of town, located on a busy street which does not really go anywhere. There is endless motorised traffic on this street, it is almost dangerous to cross over to the other side.

Pass the dilapidated small house that has just been standing empty there for the last twenty years. It is a sad sight, as if somebody just walked out and abandoned the building.

A little further on there is the big modern supermarket. Get in line at the parcels counter and wait for the other customers to finish. Then the clerk tells me that not enough has been paid on the small packet. Look at the sticker which the wife had printed out and see that it is so. 

Take the parcel back home, thinking all the while that this is good for exercise. 

The wife exclaims that this is not possible, the clerk must have made a mistake. Then she looks at the label, and realises that she had printed the wrong amount onto the label herself. A short while later, walk all the way back to the parcel office in the supermarket. On the way see that some of the side windows in the old house have been broken. It will probably not be around for very much longer.

The clerk's eyes smile when she sees the parcel with the different amount on it and exclaims "That's the way it should  be."

Thank her and leave, for a longer walk around the town.