"We’ve just been informed that the USPS truck which picked up our mail today was involved in an accident. The driver of the truck was unharmed, however, the truck was engulfed in flames and we lost all of our outgoing mail."
I thought, Wow! That doesn't happen every day...what a strange thing...and went about my business (I hadn't sent out any mail from work so I wasn't concerned).
As it happens, I was expecting a new Journeyman whistle from Gary Humphrey in the mail yesterday (you can probably see where this is going) and it didn't show up. Since it didn't get here yesterday, I figured it would certainly be here today, so I rushed home after work to see if it had arrived.
I opened my mailbox and a very strong burnt smell wafted out. Inside was a plastic bag full of burnt (most almost completely consumed by fire) mail and a letter. The letter said:
"Dear Valued Postal Customer,
We regret to inform you that an accidental vehicle fire led to the loss of all mail that was destined for delivery to your address on Thursday, March 23, 2006. We were able to recover and recognize some fragments and in those cases the items will be delivered to you for your review."
Lucky me (or so I usually think) lives only a few blocks down the road from work. Unfortunately, in this case, it meant that mail being DELIVERED to my house was in the truck that was engulfed in flames the day before!
I called the number on the letter from the post office and, after explaining what a penny/tin whistle was and what it was made of (Delrin and aluminum), I was informed that the fire got so hot that even metal melted and that IF the whistle was in that delivery, there was likely nothing left.
I don't know yet if the whistle was in that delivery...it was insured so if it doesn't show up in the next day or two I should be able to find out if it was scanned for delivery that day.
I'll keep you posted on the end of the story.
-Brett
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