Amorous mail turns up from 1978
JUST like the Canadian Mounties, the Royal Mail always gets its man – or woman – albeit more than 30 years late in this case and with a lot of help.
A cheque for £8.45 and note sent in 1978 by an admirer calling himself "Desert Bachelor" has just been delivered along with several other pieces of correspondence addressed for the strath.
They were discovered recently by Mr Bill Baird whilst he was demolishing a wooden shed belonging to him which had been used at one time as a postal sorting office in Carrbridge.
At the time the missing letters were posted, flares were all the rage, John Travolta and Olivia Newton John were strutting their stuff in Grease, and Grange Hill and Dallas were being aired on TV for the very first time.
Kim Clark was just 17 years old and working with Landmark in Carrbridge when the note and cheque was being posted from the Middle East by the mystery man.
Her then boss Danny Fullerton, who received some of the post that had gone AWOL, was more intrigued by the flirtatious advances of the former customer to an ex-staff member than the uncashed money.
He explained: "One of the two letters was addressed to Kim and had a cheque in it. It was – we think – payment for a Christmas hamper we used to supply some years back.
"Kim must have been the contact then. The chap was writing from Saudi Arabia and signed himself off as ‘Desert Bachelor’ – a clear announcement that he was footloose and fancy free!"
He added: "We were wondering if the Desert Bachelor is still pining for the hamper or Kim for all these years!"
Mr Fullerton, ever the professional, even offered a free hamper to the sender if he had not received his festive order all those years ago.
"It sounds like Mr. X did not receive his hamper. I only hope that it wasn’t a present for someone special given his alias.
"Maybe there is a whole story out there waiting to be told. If Mr Oakley reads this we would be happy to make up a complimentary hamper and, who knows, perhaps he can turn back the clock and pick up where he left off!"
Kim, still glamorous but now 50 years young and working as a sales associate for REMAX Cairngorm in Aviemore, said that she could not remember a Phil Oakley who had penned the note.
But she said that she would not be pursuing any offers from the Desert Bachelor.
Mrs Baird said that they had been gobsmacked to discover the old letters which the couple had passed on to Royal Mail.
She explained: "We had an old shed out the back which used to be the sorting office. It was needing to come down so my husband demolished it and found the letters way down the back.
"They must have fallen when they were being sorted. The letters must have slipped down the back and nobody has ever realised they were there."
She added: "We had no idea what was inside of them. They were nothing to do with us because they were lost long before we moved here."
Royal Mail apologised for any inconvenience caused in the years that have passed since and a spokeswoman said: "We can confirm that an extremely small quantity of mail was discovered whilst demolishing a shed that had served as the former sorting office in Carrbridge.
"The recovered mail, with the exception of two letters which were totally undecipherable, has been delivered.
"Royal Mail apologises to those customers who have been affected by this incident."
