"From anywhere . . . to anyone" - Canada Post's motto

Off to drive the hour and ten minutes to see mom after work. I went to see mom in the hospital to tell her in person that we had a move in date for the retirement community.

The date is next week when we have a forecasted daytime high of -30C. The move in date is short notice. This weekend I will be moving stuff from her condo into her new place and trying to arrange a landline and cable television. She can move in before Christmas, I am not sure if this can done by then. I discussed this with her and she is fine if we cannot make it work right away. Days before Christmas is not a great time to get things done.

After my visit I drove to her condo to make sure there was heat. On the way out I checked her box on the main floor. It was stuffed with flyers, a phone bill, and a letter. The letter was addressed to "Kay Gilgan". Her letter got delivered to my mother's mailbox by mistake. The address was for Drayton Valley, basically the other side of town. It was from somewhere in England, the handwriting was not the best. Her address was not even close to mom's address other than the town being the same. Canada Post delivered from anywhere but not to the right person.

I was going to throw her letter into a mailbox and let Canada Post fix their mistake. Drayton Valley is not big. I looked up the street address on Google Maps and saw her place was five minutes away. What the hell, I will personally make sure she gets her letter. It might be important. If I left this up to the post office she might never see it.

Her building was a three storey condo building. I buzzed her unit, someone answered, and I asked if this was Kay Gilgan. I was told no. The person said what unit she was in which was the unit I buzzed. I said I would try again. Punched the numbers on the keypad and got the same person. Something is wrong with the directory. I explained that I was trying to deliver a letter to Kay Gilgan that was delivered to the wrong address. She said she would let me in and I could slip it under the door. Then she hung up on me. I tried the keypad again, got her again, asked if she was coming down to get the letter or letting me in. She said "Oh, right" then let me in.

I walked in, found Kay's unit, knocked on her door. There was a brief pause, the door opened. The occupant was an elderly lady. I handed her the letter, said I was visiting my mother in the hospital, picked up my mother's mail, noticed the letter, and thought I would deliver it to her on my way out of town. I said it was from someone in England. She looked a little puzzled, like she did not know anyone there. I told her I just wanted to make sure she got it and wished her a Merry Christmas. She was pleased and thanked me for doing this for her.

Good to know I accomplished something concrete.