If you type 'England' into Flickr, you get a lot of nice photos of which this is the third most relevant, apparently. If you mistype 'Ebgland' into Flickr... you still get a surprisingly large number of pictures to view before you realise!
The red pillar box is definitely high on the 'Iconic Britain' list, alongside both phone boxes and double decker buses. The first pillar boxes were put up in Jersey on 1852, in response to slow mail collection caused by changing tides. Those early boxes are called 'Penfolds', after their designer. You'll see them a lot during your stay at Harlaxton and it has to be said, there's a great pleasure in putting a letter in the post this way. Although I was fascinated by American mail boxes, I hope the pillar box will remain a British Icon for the future!
(PS. When I was in Evansville I volunteered at the Zoo, and on the 'fact sheet' for the Zoo hedgehog was this interesting snippet: "in England (apparently) if you come across an injured hedgehog you put it in the post box and the post man will take it to the Hedgehog Hospital." I've never seen so many disappointed faces as when I told them that any injured hedgehog wouldn't be pleased to be crammed through an inch tall letter slot and have to drop three foot onto a small pile of letters in a big metal box!)
(PPS. Tomorrow is the Queen's official birthday: happy birthday Queenie!)
The red pillar box is definitely high on the 'Iconic Britain' list, alongside both phone boxes and double decker buses. The first pillar boxes were put up in Jersey on 1852, in response to slow mail collection caused by changing tides. Those early boxes are called 'Penfolds', after their designer. You'll see them a lot during your stay at Harlaxton and it has to be said, there's a great pleasure in putting a letter in the post this way. Although I was fascinated by American mail boxes, I hope the pillar box will remain a British Icon for the future!
(PS. When I was in Evansville I volunteered at the Zoo, and on the 'fact sheet' for the Zoo hedgehog was this interesting snippet: "in England (apparently) if you come across an injured hedgehog you put it in the post box and the post man will take it to the Hedgehog Hospital." I've never seen so many disappointed faces as when I told them that any injured hedgehog wouldn't be pleased to be crammed through an inch tall letter slot and have to drop three foot onto a small pile of letters in a big metal box!)
(PPS. Tomorrow is the Queen's official birthday: happy birthday Queenie!)
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