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| "Have I gone mad?" "I'm afraid so, you're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret... All the best people are." |
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| The Frog looked ad the door with his large dull eyes for a minute Illustration by J. Tenniel, coloured by Diz Wallis |
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| In another moment Alicia was though the glass, and had jumped down lightly into the Looking-glass room. Illustration by J. Tenniel, coloured by Diz Wallis |
Issued in 1885,this cover depicts Alice, the iconic character from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, visiting Yellowstone National Park. Carroll's books and the Park become forever intertwined in the public consciousness when, just after the American Civil War, the Nation journalists saw the analogy between those two lands full of strange and magical wonders. Beginning around the time the rail line near the park was completed in 1883, the Northern Pacific Railroad began using this analogy as a clever way to promote Yellowstone and their railroad as the way visitors could now reach the real "Wonderland".
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| The big Monsters eat letters. The small Monsters only eat stamps. |
Yes, I believe in Mail Monster because: One time I sent a collage to someone in Holland. It was a woman and a square of color and a letter "n". The recipient had moved and my collage returned to me. The Mail Monster had eaten the woman's head, nothing else.
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| The Mail Monsters eat letters for breakfast, for lunch, for dinner... |
When letters arrive with small (and sometimes large!) pieces missing I like to believe that mail monsters are real.
I think they are shy, quiet, lonely creatures that hide in dark places in post office mail bugs and sorting machines, just waiting for a piece of news, poetry, information, story to grab. Usually just a nibble, but sometimes they get carried away by the delicious words and pretty stamps.
They don't really mean to be monsters, they are just misunderstood!
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| Huis Verwolde Personal stamps (30 March 2017) |
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| 21 Mai 2012 |
On the postcard:On left: Victorian wall post box, removed from High Street, Keynsham, situated between Bath and Bristol.
Top right: George VI 'lamp box' from Bath area. These small boxes were frequently used in rural locations attached to a lamp post or telegraph pole.
Bottom right: Tramcar letter box, first introduced in 1893, for the convenience of passengers. It was hoped by this method, to ease the volume of mail handled by sub post offices.
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| The Mail Monsters make letters disappear. |
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| What people think they look like |
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| What they really look like |
The term "mail monster" is really a misnomer. A monster is described in the dictionary as a "large, ugly and frightening, imaginary creature".
The creatures that sidetrack, delay and even consume our mail are not imaginary. They are as real as hen's teeth but not as rare. They are also very small which enables them to hide in post offices, aeroplane holders, vans and even post boxes. However, like monsters they are ugly and frightening which is why post office cats leave them alone, enabling them to reproduce and multiply in the darker corners of post office canteens, amid the old, discarded mail sacks.
Mail monsters have very vivid imaginations and are very intelligent. As a result they get bored easily. One way of relieving that boredom is to read; so they extract mail and take it into their nests where it may lie for weeks or months before being spotted by a passing postman. Because postcards don't have to be chewed open and have pretty pictures they are the mail monster's favourite type of post.
Sometimes, when the nest gets overflowing with mail mummy monsters make the children take it back to the mail slots. But instead of putting back where it came from, they will simply dump a whole armful in the nearest hole. So mail for Sweden or Malaysia may end up in the slot for Morocco or the Netherlands.
But the worst damage is done by pregnant female monsters. They always get a craving for paper and can consume ten or twelve postcards or letters.
No way of eradicating mail monsters has yet been found.
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| Middachten Castle |
