I never get any mail

Every day I get home from work, I check my mailbox before entering my building to the same result: nothingness.

I used to get home from work and find my mailbox stuffed with flyers and pamphlets. It got to the point that there was no room for other pieces of mail so I put up a little sign saying "no flyers". It worked. I no longer get flyers. But now that I no longer get flyers, I realise I needn't have worried about the lack of room for mail. Why? you may ask. Well, that's because I get no mail.

And I mean nothing. Not even bills! Why? you may ask again. Well, it's not that I don't have bills to pay, it's just that due to the wonderful bureaucratic nightmare I live in (also affectionately called Australia) I now have to pre-pay all my bills via my credit card or pay a $500 deposit for services like gas, electricity etc. And although I do make a fairly decent wage, I object on principle to handing over a couple of thousand dollars to what are essentially government agencies so I can have a flat with basic utility services. Why should the government earn interest off of my money?

Apparently I'm not a credit risk - but what does that matter? apparently being a new resident is enough. Doesn't matter that credit card companies trust me with over $10,000, the utility companies don't think I'm good for - at max - $100 a month.

But I digress....

So, I now come home and check my mailbox to find it empty, have sarcastic thoughts flit through my head commentating on how loserish that seems, to then head up to my apartment to an answering machine that rarely, if ever, flickers. (Hmmm. Maybe I should get the checked. It could be the battery..... No - even I'm not buying that one.)

So I make jokes about the fact that my mailbox is empty, but console myself with the knowledge that I do have friends and family at home who love and miss me, the issue is they're just not letter writers... Fair enough, but all that internal consoling I do didn't help me the other day:

I came home from work and - as usual - before I entered my building, I checked my mailbox. I opened it - and you guessed it - it was empty. Didn't think much of it but then as I was locking it back up and turning towards the door, I realised one of my neighbours was waiting for me and holding the door open. When I turned around she said is a joking voice, "nobody loves you huh?"

I think she may be right.