Madam, - On October 16th last, I submitted, via registered post/airmail, a package for delivery to the Royal College of General Practitioners in London. The submission contained practical work for assessment in the college's membership examination, the culmination of 12 months' hard toil, on my behalf.
The package never arrived. How do I know this? The college authorities kindly alerted me to the problem, after they became concerned at its non-arrival. I frantically contacted An Post, as the closing date had by now passed, and was assured that the package had been briefly mislaid, but that it would be at its destination within 24 hours.
It still hasn't arrived. How do I know this? My friends at the college wrote to me last week. Not a word from An Post (apart from a cursory acknowledgement of my letter of enquiry).
Many clichéd obituaries mention something about the deceased not suffering fools gladly. I resent having to play the fool in this little cameo. I fear the obituaries for the postal service, which appears to be in terminal decline, will be similarly predictable. - Yours, etc.,
J. McBREARTY,
Asgard Drive,
Grange Manor,
Waterford.