News / Couple’s surprise at receiving postcard after two-year wait
A SHETLAND couple who sent a postcard to themselves from the Galapagos Islands were taken by surprise last week when they received it through their letterbox more than two years later.
Kathleen Robertson and Michael Jamieson put the postcard in the islands’ famous “post barrel” during a holiday in the islands in 2014, where tourists are invited to leave unstamped letters.
Visitors who hail from the same country or region addressed on the letters are encouraged to take the messages from the historic box and attempt to hand deliver them.
It appears someone took the postcard with them from the far-flung Galapagos Islands to the UK before posting it from Aberdeen.
There is a sad twist to the tale, however, with a postcard the couple also addressed to Kathleen’s granny arriving in Shetland on the same day as theirs – but unfortunately she passed away last year.
“I wasn’t expecting to ever see our postcard again,” Kathleen said
“It’s a shame that whoever brought it back to the UK didn’t hand deliver it to the door, as is the tradition, but I suppose Aberdeen was close enough before they stuck it in the mail.”
They were especially surprised when they were reunited with the postcard because the Sandwick house it was addressed to has since been demolished, although they still live in the village.
And a lot more has changed for them since the postcard was penned, with the couple welcoming a child into their lives in May.
The post barrel, located on Floreana Island, was coined in the 1800s to allow fishermen to leave letters for passing ships to collect them and hopefully deliver them.
The Galapagos Islands are a province of Ecuador and lie more than 500 miles off the west coast of the Central American nation.
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