Rule of two

Today we thought we had better get our Christmas post sorted, so we parcelled up our gifts, finished writing our Christmas cards, and headed off to the post office. There was a large sign on the door stating only two people were allowed inside, so we waited patiently outside for the two customers inside to finish. Whilst waiting, a man walked straight in and laid his parcel on the counter, mumbled something and scurried out. Neither of us were sure as to what happened but were adamant no-one else was going to ‘push-in’. So when a rosie cheeked lady went to nudge by us and enter the post office to make it three people inside, I explained, in my best french and polite hand gestures, that only two people were allowed inside, and we were next. Remarkably she understood and got back in the queue which we had formed.

Finally we were able to go in, and decided to go in together as one person - no one seemed to mind, which was a good job, as we soon discovered we had to complete two forms per parcel. Having to complete name of sender and recipients, addresses, phone numbers, contents, values, purpose for each one. This was going to take some time, and the office was not very big so as you can imagine we soon became a bit of a talking point, and the rule of two disappeared. We then had our cards to also mail. I think we were there for nearly an hour, so all-in-all a bit of an outing. For a number of reasons, I think we will be reviewing our approach next year.