I woke up today to the news that my flight was delayed by 2 hours which proved to be a good thing as it gave me 2 extra hours to spend on the phone to Royal Mail asking them to turn up today, unlike yesterday.

By the time I left the house I had an agreement that they would turn up this afternoon and someone sitting in my house to be there when they arrived.

So far so good.

Just as we boarded the plane my friend sent me a text to say the driver had rung and was nearly there and I turned my phone off and relaxed for 7 hours. Surely nothing else could go wrong?

Landing at JFK late that night I turned my phone on to receive a distraught text from my friend (she's a roller girl so doesn't get upset easily but the hours she had spent on the phone to Royal Mail trying to help me had reduced her to tears of frustration). It seems the sequence of events after I turned off my phone went like this:

3pm- The driver (the same one as yesterday who lied to me then...) rang to say he was looking for a parking space and said "See you soon". This was the last time anyone from Royal Mail contacted us!

4pm- My friend rang Royal Mail and was told that the driver couldn't collect the packages on 'health and safety grounds'. This is the same house they deliver post to every day and where they delivered the mailing bags knowing how much post etc to expect. Also the same amount of post two people at Royal Mail yesterday told me to put into a minicab by myself and take to the sorting office. I am still waiting to find out just what was so dangerous about where I live.
It transpired that the driver had even rung his manager and they'd had a meeting outside my house about it- without letting me or my friend even know they were there or what they had decided.
Unbelievable- they literally made the decision and went without telling anyone. My friend was told someone would ring her right away to find a solution. Can you guess as to whether or not they did?

4.30-6.15pm My poor friend spent all this time on the phone leaving messages and asking for help and someone to contact her. No-one ever got back to her.

6.15pm- My friend got through to someone at Royal Mail (who has asked to remain anonymous so as not to lose their job- imagine losing your job for actually helping a customer who had paid thousands and thousands of pounds on postage- baffling) who was so outraged by what had happened that they said they would themselves come and pick up the parcels at 10am the next day- even though that wasn't their job and it was their day off. Wow.

I went to bed but was unable to sleep all night worrying about getting the books out and whether it would actually ever happen.

Update- December 2012- Royal Mail now say they have blacklisted my address as it is too dangerous for their drivers or my neighbours to drive their lorry down the road I live on. Oh the fun of dealing with incompetent bureaucracy!