Post by Matt James on Apr 16, 2009 12:24:42 GMT
Christmas 1967 the first year there was no Mail delivery or Public counter services in Scotland. These services had ceased some years earlier in England & Wales. I had transferred from London to West Lothian in early 1967 to what I thought would be a new life. Unfortunatly due to contracting Meningitus which left me besides other problems no previous memory. So you see a site like this assists me to recover 30 odd years of my life. I was by then in 1967 a P&TO with 10 years London experience. That in the smoke was mostly Counter & Logistics duties howver in Scotland the full use of the initials P&TO were used Postal & Telegraph Officer I would find myself on the sorting floor sorting items with strange sounding names ie: Tignabruich my pronunciation of this place would be met with met with roars of laughter, used to get my own back with Slough etc to the Jocks. The govnor approached the staff in early December for a volunteer to attend Christmas day to accept Telegrams for delivery in the whole of the county of West Lothain. Bathgate which I was employed at was then the HPO no boys were at Bathgate delivery was carried out by Postmen/Drivers driving Morris Minors or Ford Anglia vans. I volunterred for the Christmas duty on the agreement I would get 2 extra days at New Year to visit my family in London.I unlocked the office at 7.30am on Christmas morn and was soon joined by I think 3 drivers. At 8.45am the phone rang it was Edinburgh Telegrams warning me to have a cuppa as they had a stack of grams for me. Oh boy at 8am the dirt hit the fan poor Scots chap in Edinburgh sending messages by phone to a Sassanach who had to request a Say Again request time & time again . I could'nt type so all messages were taken down in long hand later to be written neater onto the Actual Greetings form . I was still going strong at midday when my fiance & her Dad came in with Turkey Sandwiches and a flask of Coffee. By 2pm the phone was not ringing so often.Which was all to good as by now I was down to 2 Postmen. The Christmas Drams were taking effect, by 4pm when my duty finished I had one Driver! However the atmosphere during the day had been truely a Christmas one. This memory has been unlocked after 40 years shut away in the distant past. Woodie