The other day, Tod got a call from the water company. They had noticed that we had a new service at a different address and wanted to know where to send the bills and put the meter reading slips.
Clearly, it was time to mount a mailbox somewhere at 555. But we don’t have a spare mailbox, so I decided to make one out of whatever I could find around the site.
Turns out, 555 is a treasure trove of materials and it took no time to find thin boards that suited my need. I measured them with a scrap of wood that was about the right length and cut them with my tree saw. Not exactly smooth, but good enough for a temporary mail box on a construction site.
I literally banged it together with some awful tiny nails and secured it with glue. Then I attached hinges and the basic box was done. I decided to paint it the lid red and write POST on it so its purpose was crystal clear.
Sakaguchi-san smoothed off the pointy tips of the screws protruding from the hinges with his power grinder, speeding up a task I would have spent more than an hour at using my rasp.
It was good enough to call done at this stage, but I had a burst of creativity when I looked at my paints. The inside of the post box was a perfect canvas for something fun. Secret art, my favorite kind.
I spent way more time decorating the box than constructing it. But I think I have created the prettiest mailbox I’ve ever seen.
When the mail carrier or the meter reader stops by, they will have a treat. When you post me a letter or a postcard, you know it’s going in there! And if there’s no mail or the box is full of bills, I will never be disappointed to open the lid and peek inside.
I have a feeling this post box might be more than temporary.
