webofevil | Dec. 2nd, 2010

About 30 years ago my mother worked for an English language school called EFA, in Farncombe Road in Worthing. One day the school got a letter from a grateful foreign student. The teaching staff didn’t get to see the letter but the address on the envelope caused merriment enough. In full:

AFE 58

DOUBLE

WORTHING ELEPHENT

FUSSER ENGLAND

They were stunned enough in 1983 that it arrived; now, with automatic sorting relying so heavily on postcodes, it seems like pure science fiction. My question is: could it conceivably reach its destination now?

(They never did find out what the “elephent” was doing there.)

EDIT: The answer is yes!

Map-reading postie finds address

A postman turned map reader to deliver a letter which was marked only with a name and a drawing. A map on the envelope had a dot drawn in north Cornwall and an arrow saying "Somewhere Here". Postal workers in Bude, north Cornwall managed to pinpoint the right address and deliver the letter.

The letter to Peter O'Leary, was from a long-lost work colleague who failed to enclose his own address so Mr O'Leary cannot write back.

Bude's delivery office manager Andrew Lake said post workers worked out from the map the intended address was in Bude and then asked each other if anyone recognised the name Peter O'Leary. Postman Eric Seymour realised Mr O'Leary lived on his round and said the customer was astounded when he handed over the letter. [BBC, 2007]