I AWOKE on my birthday to an empty doormat devoid of birthday cards.

Now knowing the post comes anytime from 10am till 4pm on the Bearwood estate I waited and waited and waited. Nothing came.

I am not a kid and my mum did say I should stop counting birthdays once I reached 40 but to receive no cards at all was a little upsetting.

When casually mentioning my birthday celebrations in conversation over the next few days, people started to ask if I liked their card, did I receive the money, what did I spend the John Lewis card on?

After a visit to the sorting office it became apparent that my postman had been off sick for two weeks in January and a ‘relief’ postie had been on his round.

A call to the Royal Mail got me a complaint number which was as useful as a chocolate teapot as my dad and my nanny had sent their gifts, the JL gift card and £10 note, in my card and not sent them registered post.

The less than helpful call centre woman kept saying that they shouldn’t send gifts like this in the post and maybe the cards are just lost in the system.

She did say I could put in a claim but wouldn’t get more than six first class stamps, as that was the maximum payout.

When next seeing my postman he said that another house had complained of missing post those weeks.

I went back to the sorting office and they said nothing had been done as it was too hard to prove.

So, words of warning: Don’t trust your loved one’s gifts to the Post Office unless you send it and it has to be signed for.

Try not to send birthday cards in pink envelopes as this is a sure sign that nanny may have slipped £10 in the card.

And note that if you buy a store gift card you can’t cancel it, only get it frozen.

So lastly, thank you if you did send me a card or a gift. Nothing came at all.

One last thing... the Post Office lady asked me: “Have you had anything else go missing?”

TRACEY HARMAN,
Viscount Walk, Bearwood