Community spirit is piling up alongside the parcels

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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Now we've told Royal Mail that we'd prefer our parcels to be left with neighbours, it's so much better

Peak online Christmas shopping day happened earlier this week. I was online, you were online, the whole world seemed to be online. Our debit card payments clogged the system: paying up took longer than we were used to. And now comes the logjam! All those parcels are winging their way to our front doors. I have about six currently in transit. But, of course, I am not at home when they call, am I? I am out and about, working or shopping or singing Christmas carols.

So what happens to the deliveries? I am delighted the Royal Mail recently gave up on those depressing notes that told you to come to collect your package at some remote and unwelcoming building tucked behind the railway station (in my case, Euston). Instead, we got a circular asking whether we preferred parcels to be left with neighbours. Oh, yes, so much better. Now the neighbourhood is awash with our deliveries, standing in neighbours’ hallways, tucked in outdoor cupboards, palmed off on the long-suffering who have their own parcels to worry about.

Perhaps this is the real meaning of neighbourhood watch. Certainly when the rubbish collections come round each week the pavements are heaped with empty boxes. It’s a case of you take in my parcel, I’ll take in yours. Goodwill all round.