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Elegy for a really nice mailbox


Chris A

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My next door neighbor's mailbox has passed on.  A picture of it in its prime (from Google Maps).  The picture doesn't do it justice:

 

597255109d2d8_AngelasMailbox.PNG.d4ac0d974fc9d0d79101fa1413a07eec.PNG

 

and the latest picture of its passing:

 

59725544e0768_Angelasrockpile.JPG.5451b006517c29a8ccea17ec710b47d2.JPG

 

A neighbor driving a small SUV took it out as she rounded the corner at 1:20 PM today.  I heard it while demastering the latest Norah Jones CD Daybreaks: it sounded like something really big had fallen in the garage.  I walked out to make sure that the person was okay (she was).  She got back into her SUV, turned around, and drove back home--after collecting her front grill from the lawn, and I suppose leaving a note on the front door.

 

I liked that mailbox.  It was like a friend for the past 18 years.  I feel a strange sense of loss in its passing.  C'est la vie

 

I'm playing Barber's Adagio for Strings by Leonard Bernstein and the L.A. Philharmonic in memory of its passing. :sad:

 

Chris

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32 minutes ago, Chris A said:

 

I'm playing Barber's Adagio for Strings by Leonard Bernstein and the L.A. Philharmonic in memory of its passing. :sad:

 

Chris

 

Excellent choice!

That's the version I have on a compilation CD called "Shadows and Light"

 

That was some major destruction!

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I was amazed how nonchalant the lady was--sort of like nothing had happened.  I wonder now if she's really okay.

 

Oh well, it gave me the excuse to demaster the Bernstein CD...

 

5972650b5dfe8_BernsteinLAPhilharmonic.thumb.PNG.41e43bc1ee985f311c9fc16024fb9d1d.PNG

 

Chris

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1 hour ago, Chris A said:

I'm playing Barber's Adagio for Strings by Leonard Bernstein and the L.A. Philharmonic in memory of its passing. :sad:

Magnificent choice.

 

Here's my tribute to the late mail box played by an 80 piece drum corps brass choir, The Cadets, who also play a nice version of Adagio for Strings.

 

Play it loud.  B)

 

 

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College roommate of mine did similar however, he had been drinking AND, when he hit the box, his front license plate broke off and remained at the scene of the 'crime'.

 

Next day, the cops (someone, forget who) showed up and he got into some hot water.  I think I was told the mailbox he destroyed is considered government property..

 

Hope nothing like that follows her (and that she rightfully fixes that which she broke)

 

 

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@Chris A said, "I was amazed how nonchalant the lady was--sort of like nothing had happened."

 

Vodka had the same effect on my late sister. She'd only get upset if one of her kids put water in her water bottle.  Fortunately, she never killed anyone, or anything, to the best of my knowledge.

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3 hours ago, Chris A said:

My next door neighbor's mailbox has passed on.  A picture of it in its prime (from Google Maps).  The picture doesn't do it justice:

 

597255109d2d8_AngelasMailbox.PNG.d4ac0d974fc9d0d79101fa1413a07eec.PNG

 

and the latest picture of its passing:

 

59725544e0768_Angelasrockpile.JPG.5451b006517c29a8ccea17ec710b47d2.JPG

 

A neighbor driving a small SUV took it out as she rounded the corner at 1:20 PM today.  I heard it while demastering the latest Norah Jones CD Daybreaks: it sounded like something really big had fallen in the garage.  I walked out to make sure that the person was okay (she was).  She got back into her SUV, turned around, and drove back home--after collecting her front grill from the lawn, and I suppose leaving a note on the front door.

 

I liked that mailbox.  It was like a friend for the past 18 years.  I feel a strange sense of loss in its passing.  C'est la vie

 

I'm playing Barber's Adagio for Strings by Leonard Bernstein and the L.A. Philharmonic in memory of its passing. :sad:

 

Chris

 

Just as well. The city right of way  usually extends even with the telephone poles and if you erect something there that is not to code (Steel posts, concrete posts, huge rocks) you

can be sued if a vehicle hits it and the operator is injured or dies. Consider it lucky the owner of the mailbox did not get sued yet.

JJK

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Umm, probably not in Texas...which is a property rights state.  You'll probably wind up paying the mailbox owner, even if you don't survive it...

 

The city can take out anything that's on the easement (which actually extends back a about 3 feet from the street). But all the mailboxes in the subdivision were built by the home builders, and are on substantial brick pedestals on the curb.  Usually that sort of thing is done in coordination with the city and the USPS at subdivision development time.

 

The place where this happened is on a tight right-angle intersection of two streets with a lake bounding the back side of the properties.  You'd have to be fairly crazy to try the turn at more than 15 MPH.  Apparently this lady just missed the turn and hit the curb (you can see the rubber along the curb). The lady was in her mid-late 60s or early 70s and her appearance wasn't indicative of anything like drinking or that sort of thing--more like Friday quilt club.  I think she probably looked down at the wrong time and wound up about a foot on the property.  No real tire marks on the grass, however.

 

When I went to check on the property for the owners to make sure their garage door was shut, a car with two couples from the neighborhood stopped by and they talked.  One neighbor in the back seat said that he's lost two mailboxes, and the second time resulted in the car flipping over...(wow).  I told him that I liked my mail box and really wanted to keep it...  They all laughed, but I'm not sure it was my humor...or the notion that I wanted to keep my mailbox...

 

Anyway, I've been here 18 1/2 years, and this is first event within earshot.

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I bet I could weave it into a country/western song...

 

Elegy is a lot better I think than "funeral durge". 

 

Chris

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1 hour ago, JJkizak said:

 

Just as well. The city right of way  usually extends even with the telephone poles and if you erect something there that is not to code (Steel posts, concrete posts, huge rocks) you

can be sued if a vehicle hits it and the operator is injured or dies. Consider it lucky the owner of the mailbox did not get sued yet.

JJK

I live in TX, and couple of years ago, a few high school students celebrating their graduation, or drunk, drove their car on and smashed each and every mail box on my street with a baseball bat, mine included.

 

I caught them on my door bell camera, and the police officer came, made a a copy of the tape, and I filed a report.

 

They were about to loose their scholarship, as it would have gone on their record. Their parents pleaded with me to drop the charges, however I insisted on teaching them a lesson for the future, so they winded up doing community time and working all summer to pay each and every mail box owner, the cost to repair or replace the mail boxes they have damaged, again mine included.

 

At the end of the summer and after paying back, the charges were dropped. I hope they learned their lesson. 

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In our neighborhood, the right of way extends 25 ft. from thr centerline of the street (I think that's what on the survey we had done a couple of years ago). Most folks forget that when they move into an already established subdivision and there are trees/shrubs/fences close to the street.

 

Bruce

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14 hours ago, JJkizak said:

 

Just as well. The city right of way  usually extends even with the telephone poles and if you erect something there that is not to code (Steel posts, concrete posts, huge rocks) you

can be sued if a vehicle hits it and the operator is injured or dies. Consider it lucky the owner of the mailbox did not get sued yet.

JJK

Around here, you have to get permission from the local postmaster to install any kind of non breakaway structure for your mailbox. To get permission, you need to be on a street with little traffic.

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