My letterbox scouting trip did not go very well. I thought I would be able to just buy a new letterbox from Mitre 10 and install it and all would be well. Now the shops are open we are able to go and view the products instead of blindly ordering them online and hoping for the best.
I took mum along because she has strong opinions on what a good letterbox looks like. I just wanted one that would not rust, corrode, or rot. Seeing as Auckland is known for rainy weather, I thought a weatherproof one would surely be the best. Because we don't have a wall to mount a box on, or room to inset some bricks, the only option seemed to me the plastic ones.
Mum thought the plastic ones, of which there are two types, were super ugly. There is a rural type one that has a little flag you can open up, very long and open only at the front, and the more urban type one that you can lift the lid on a hinge, basically, looks a bit like a mini rubbish(or worm) bin with a slot.
They were $115. I was in despair because we surely needed a new letterbox but with nothing much to choose from how was Santa going to leave us any Christmas presents? Let alone Christmas cards. We also looked in Bunnings. They had fancier letterboxes, but same story.
Unless...I write to NZ Post, tell them about my dilemma, and ask them if they would mind sparing a not used letter box for us. Or...hitch a sack to a post. Or empty my worm bin, and use THAT for our letterbox. You'll just need to lift the lid to put the letters in.
Anyhow I can't think too much as my brain will hurt and I'll start sneezing again at the prospect of going all over town shopping for a new letterbox. Perhaps there will be one at the dump, that some owners have ditched because it looks too old fashioned for their brand new property renovation/development that I could rescue?
While pondering this Dad would like to share the photo he took of our bottlebrush, now in bloom. It's a Little John one so won't grow to shade his thermometer. I actually heard him surmising, after I had cut back the fennel a bit more, that maybe he COULD move the thermometer a few centimetres further into the lawn.
