going to the post

Its the subtle differences that I miss most about home. Case in point, my trip to the post office this morning:

After walking five or six blocks to the post office, or the "post" as its referred to here, I was pleased to not only have remembered where it was, but also with myself for remembering to bring the postcards that I wanted to mail. I walked back to the counter, and proudly told the man behind the counter that I would like to purchase five stamps to mail postcards to the US. After looking at me strangely, he told me I could only purchase stamps in sets of six. I replied that that was fine, and I was sure I could use up the last stamp at some point. He picked out six Frankenstien stamps (whether or not he was insinuating anything I chose to ignore) and told me they would be three pounds sixty nine. Having only large bills in my wallet, I attempted to pay with change. Let me say that there is a significantly larger repertoire of change in all European countries, but in the UK especially. There is a half-pence, a one pence, a two pence, a five pence, a ten pence, a twenty pence, a fifty pence, a one pound, and a two pound. In my opinion all very unnecessary, and judging by the weight of my wallet I was sure that I had at least 3.69 in coins. My friend the cashier didn't find any patience in waiting for me to fish out the correct coins to pay with and began to clear his throat and tap his fingers. I resigned just to pay with a 20 pound note and add even more weight to my wallet with the large amount of change I was sure to receive. Instead of handing him just one note, I handed him 3 on accident, and he proceeded to make a huge fuss, jokingly, about how I was trying to pay him off and what in the world could I want him to do for sixty pounds and didn't his buddy think it funny that he was receiving so much for the post on five post cards. Embarrassed, I laughed and said "its just been one of those mornings." He promptly replied that clearly it had been "one of those nights" and I assured him that was not the case. He laughed and said he believed me, it was clear that blondes were already at a disadvantage for accomplishing tasks such as these.

After getting the correct change, and my two bills back, I decided to leave and drop my postcards in a mailbox somewhere along the way. I started walking down the sidewalk and placing stamps on the postcards at the same time. I kept almost running into people, and I couldn't figure out why people kept walking right in front of me. Until I realized that I had been walking on the right side of the sidewalk, conveniently the "wrong" side in England.

Who knew mailing postcards required so much cultural awareness?