Last week there were elections in my country. I had just received the ballot papers but could not complete all the paperwork before the weekend. Then, on Saturday, at noon, when I arrived to my local post office, it was already closing. I thought I would not be able to vote anymore, as I had to travel abroad on Sunday for one week. My vote would be lost, and it was important.

Searching through the web, however, I discovered that there was one post office downtown in Paris that was open 22 hours per day, seven days a week. Yes, 22 hours. It sounds a bit weird, but that is that. The place closes from 06:00am to 08:00am, but for the rest of the day or night, it is open. So, if you have a deadline to meet, you can post your letter or parcel 5 minutes before midnight, and the post stamp will show you were on time. The service is open to all types of postal shipping, from the smallest postcard to big parcels, and it’s available for worldwide shipping.

Some may find this not so useful, but really, when you have lived in more than 10 countries, have children, mother, father and other relatives spread in more than 3 different nations, it is useful to know that you can always bring something there and ask for delivery the next day.

Some public service is still guaranteed in the 21st century when everything is digital!!