On letterboxes

Spent this morning delivering the lastest edition of the London Green News in Stroud Green. It's Haringey Greens' target ward and we're trying to maximise our vote there in the upcoming Mayoral and Greater London Assembly elections on May 1st.

I've done a lot of posting things through letter boxes this year, what with my by-election campaign (5000 leaflets delivered with the help of a small group of Greenies). I've become rather a connoisseur of what sort of letter boxes are good news for postmen/women/people/whatever! and what sort spell certain finger amputation.

Good: modern, big, an easy spring, half way up door.

Bad: faux Victorian style with 'Letters' engraved on it. I'm sure it's a very charming style but it's too small to get any post through - a fatal flaw, surely. Vertical ones are a pain the neck too, as you find yourself trying to levitate sideways in order to wedge your leaflet/paper through. Draft-excluding brushes? Great for the environment, bad for posting. You have to figure out the gap between the brushes, hold the damn thing open and stuff your paper through. By which time it's in tatters. And why oh why do some people insist on having a door with a letter box right at the foot of the door? That's just plain mean.

And don't get me started on rabid dogs...