One of the weirdest things about living in a house in London is the mail slot in the front door. I have never had mail shoved directly into my home. CHING! KERTHUNK! Each morning, the noise of the metal flap flying up to hit the door and the mail thudding to the ground make me jump out of my seat.

www-mailbox 2In California, we had a mailbox at the end of our driveway. In Baltimore, I had a box in the lobby of the apartment building. Same goes for Taiwan and Japan. In Vietnam, we got so few pieces of mail that they were slid under the door or hand delivered. Half of what we received had to be picked up from the post office anyway because they’d been opened for inspection in case we were trying to smuggle in who knows what contraband.

Today I came to another realization. This is the first time we’ve gotten junk mail in years. From my estimate, my parents in California get around 10 pieces of junk mail a day. We get about 2-3. Today, an envelope arrived from Oxfam with a free sachet of fairtrade coffee, a Sky TV advertisement, and some sort of home learning college brochure. The only junk mail I find remotely helpful are the delivery menus although most of those restaurants are absolute rubbish.

What junk mail did you get today?

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