Tuesday 25 November 2008

Excellent anecdote of the week

In 1787 Benjamin Franklin received a letter from Erasmus Darwin, Charlie D's grandpa. It was addressed to 'Doctor Franklin, America'.

Makes you proud to be a postie's sister, that does.

11 comments:

TimT said...

To: Doctor Franklin, America.

Dear Benjy,

I've lost my spectacles. Have you seen them?

Ras

To: Mr Darwin, England

Dear Ras,

Yes.

Benjy

TimT said...

To: Hamlet, Denmark

Dear Hammy,

My favourite colour is blue! What's yours?

Mac

To: Macbeth, Scotland

Dear Mac,

Red. No! Wait!

Maybe green?

Hammy

Alexis, Baron von Harlot said...

To: TimT, Australia, the World, the Solar System, the Universe

Can I have some of what you're having?

To: Lexicon Harlot, the Internet

Sure. I'll put it in the post.

Nick Crumbedprawn said...

To: TT and LH

You're both adorable spuds, the pair of you.

Jesus

(Is that presumptuous of me?)

TimT said...

Who? You or Jesus?

In both cases, yes.

Alexis, Baron von Harlot said...

To: Jesus, Everywhere

Speaking of presumption, I worry that Calvin's doctrine of election could lead to gross megalomania among the elect. Is this so?

P.S. You're an adorable spud too.

Alexis, Baron von Harlot said...

While we're on the subject of Erasmus Darwin, cop this, from The Botanic Garden: "some genera of animals perish by the increasing power of their enemies".

What a family. I mean, really. What - a - family.

Anonymous said...

I had a similar experience with the postie going that extra mile. Not literally, and besides we use kilometres here. Oh, and the letter wasn't from Erasmus.

Anyway, on a trip to Tokyo I met a a couple of Japanese high-school students and their teacher. They were in town because they were receiving awards for a Tanka competition they entered. We exchanged addresses and I later received a letter from Japan addressed to:

Mark Reid
Sydney 2052
Australia

Although I'm not as famous as Benjy, the letter got to me because 2052 is the postcode for UNSW and I was a tutor at one of its colleges at the time.

Anyway, don't try it now. I live in Canberra and there's another Mark Reed in the same building so even mail correctly addressed goes AWOL sometimes. I also get plenty of email for other Mark Reid's but that's another story.

I guess there must be some law that says mail confusion must be conserved.

Tony.T said...

On a similar theme:

"Somewhere playing in England"

Alexis, Baron von Harlot said...

That's a fantastic link, Tony. Everyone, click on Tony's link.

Mark, there may be many with your name, but you'll always be the Mark Reid to me. And clearly that's how Australia Post felt too.

mischa said...

my grandfather toured around australia and overseas in the middle of last century giving lectures about how to improve your memory and once received a letter from overseas addressed simply:
William Langford-Penny
The Memory Man
Australia