Postcard arrives at address 120 years after it was mailed

This delivery was quite literally postponed.

As if the world’s post offices weren’t plagued by enough delays: Employees at a Welsh bank were dumbfounded after receiving a postcard 121 years after it was originally sent.

“It turned up completely out of the blue,” Henry Darby, the marketing and communications officer at the Swansea Building Society’s head office in Swansea where the “spooky” correspondence was delivered, told Wales Online.

The Welshman and his team had reportedly been sifting through their mail on August 16, when all of a sudden, the postponed postcard dropped out of the pile onto the table. The super snail mail was dated August 3, 1903, and bore a stamp emblazoned with King Edward VII — who was the UK’s ruling monarch at the time.

The postcard’s front featured a cryptic depiction of a stag trotting amongst a wintry wonderland with the cryptic caption “the challenge.” It was addressed to one Lydia Davies, who presumably lived there when there were houses instead of the bank.

“The address is correct, we are still 11 (and 12) Cradock Street, but it’s 121 years later than expected!” exclaimed Darby, who noted that the writing style was “very much of the time.”

Indeed, the correspondence’s salutation reads “Remember me to Miss Gilbert + John with love to all from [unreadable].”

Meanwhile, the body read: “Dear L. I could not, it was impossible to get the pair of these. I am so sorry, but I hope you are enjoying yourself at home. I have got now about 10 shillings pocket money not counting the train fare so I’m doing alright.”

Darby said that the vague nature of the correspondence indicates that the sender was “speaking of something they are both aware of but don’t want to reveal it on the postcard.”

While the identity of said sender is unclear, a pencil scrawling at the top indicates that the postcard was sent to Davies from someone in Fishguard, Pembrokeshire.

The bank has since posted a Facebook notice imploring people in the Swansea community and elsewhere to help “shed light on this mystery,” writing: “Do you know anything about Miss Lydia Davies, who lived on Craddock Street in 1903 (according to the postmark)?”

Why did the postcard undergo such an Odyssey before arriving at the intended address?

A Royal Mail spokeswoman said it was likely placed “back in the system” and wasn’t actually lost in the mail for 121 years.

“When an item is in our system, we are under obligation to deliver it to the correct address,” they declared.

Apparently, in the UK, neither snow nor rain nor a century-long delay can stop the mail.