Waiting on Post

WAITING ON POST

I used to collect tokens from cereal boxes and send away for stuff.

Stuff.  It rarely mattered what it was but I liked the idea of watching the post and receiving parcels.

I remember getting a yoyo.  A heavy brick it was and I never mastered it.  But it had lights and an image of Two-tales from the Sonic cartoons/games so it never bothered me that the yoyo became an ornament and was never used for its intended purpose.

Shelved and forever unfulfilled.

Until someone dropped it and smashed it into two pieces.

True to life.

It used to cost 20p for postage and packaging.

But if you collected enough tokens it was otherwise free and 20p although difficult to come by (I did not get pocket money) was not impossible to scrounge it from somewhere.  Usually, the offer requested a 20p postal order but who in the right mind would be bothered to ask for a 20p postal order?

So, often we stuck the coin to a piece of cardboard using sticky-tape and sent it on its merry way.

I remember Sugar puffs once had an offer for X-men action figures.  We fought over who would be the first to order one but we never collected enough tokens.

My brother did collect enough for a Space Precinct toy once.  But his choice of toy was ‘Snake.’  We did not collect enough tokens for another figure.

Nowadays, if there are any postal offers you have to pay.

We used to watch the postman and when he would stop to drop the letters we would often race, wrestle and struggle to get those letters.  More often than not it was rubbish.  Spam.

I won a C.D. once.  Well, it was last year.

It rekindled memories and feelings of anticipation watching the post everyday.

Alas, I still wait.

That C.D. has never found its destination…