British Student .ca

Yesterday my friend from back home, Beckie, asked me online if I had got the birthday letter she sent. I had memories of getting a letter from her at some point, but I couldn’t see where I put it and I’m sure I hadn’t got anything from her since my birthday and the winter break.

Today I checked my post to find a letter from the UK scribbled with multiple corrections. On the back of the envelope was a big stamp “MAIL WAS DELAYED BECAUSE OF WRONG OR MISSING…” and every box has been ticked. Beckie might be a bit embarrassed at me posting this, but I just found it so funny the amount they stamped and wrote on the envelope, I had to share photos.

There isn’t anything terribly wrong with the address. They get annoyed about the mailbox number, but if they had told me what it would be before I got here then I could have made sure everyone had it up to date. It was a close call with whoever processed the mail, they gave it a “Return to sender” stamp which later got scribbled out.

Thanks Beckie for the letter, also thanks for the Christmas cards Susan and Graham, my Nottingham relatives, and my parents. If anyone wants to send me some post, here is the correct address they want you to use:

Gregory Marler
Box 854
2525 West Mall
Vancouver, BC
V6T 1W9

Think of the poor students, in a new place without their mummys, missing home and not getting any nice treats. It’s a big thing to get post at university, especially packages. Some people have had several care packages (containing a letter, maybe photos, and sweets/candy), where others get nothing. Me and my parents had agreed that it was to expensive to send a package overseas, and I’m a big grown up 3rd year really. However I already told you how my mum didn’t understand how much home cooking is missed and she blogged a virtual care package to make me miss it even more.

Well it’s been suggested here that those who don’t get care packages should send their mean parents a package. Being a poor student I don’t have money to splash away doing that, but then up popped a twitter message from a mapping friend, Dan Karran containing a coupon code. It was for a free box from Graze.com who send healthy fruit and nut lunch packages using the UK postal service, Royal Mail. Although recently the UK (mainly London?) has had postal stikes, so Graze cleverly adapted and I think my mother got an extra helping of nuts and maybe dried fruit to replace the fresh stuff. This was good as the package arrived a day late because Royal Mail are clearing up the backlog since the strikes, usual service in my opinion.

Thanks for the coupon Dan. Sorry Graze for only using my account for your freebie, I’ll have to leave it to my mum to decide if it was nice. To the students who are lucky/spoilt enough to get care packages, what do they actually contain?

I like sending old fashioned (aka snail) mail, mainly because it increases the chances of getting post yourself. When your away from home it’s good to send postcards, so it shows where you are and can be stuck up somewhere. But I’m fussy about choosing designs, and then I don’t like to send the same design more than twice.

My solution to this problem is a UK-started company called Moo. They do printing in a new way that allows you to order a small amount of a product but every item can use a different photo/design on one side. Most popular are their “Moo Cards” which are smaller than the usual business card but have become a techy and arty fashion icon. I have lots of fun saying “take my business card”, but even more fun saying “which of my business cards would you like?” as I hold out a few in a fan shape.

They have a base in the US, so they can deliver to me here in Vancouver! I thought it was taking forever, but 2 weeks and they’re here, just fitting in my mailbox! I kind of got a bit excited and ordered 60 (using 11 designs with photos I had taken), and I probably don’t have that many friends.

I’ll sell them to you at $1.50 a card or $7 for 5. E-mail postcards at britishstudent.ca or pop by my room if you know where I am. I don’t have stamps, but if your very nice and ask me before I make a trip to the SU post office then I might get some for you at cost. Also, feel free to comment below on your favourite design even if you don’t buy any.

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