The not-for-us card

Oh happy day - it arrived! My favourite christmas card of the year, the one I anticipate more than any other and the one which makes me grin from ear to ear. What's so special about it?
Well, it isn't for us. It arrives at our address, with a perfectly neat and legible envelope bearing our correct house number, street and postcode. The only thing is, we are not called Jules and Harvey. Jules and Harvey have never lived in this house, or on this street, for that matter.

The only thing I know about Jules and Harvey is that they have chums called Graham and Olwyn. Not close chums, because Olwyn apologizes that they haven't managed to meet up again this year, but they are clearly tenacious, because their card has arrived with us for the last 3 (possibly 4) years.

I do love the perkiness of Olwyn, though her habit of using capital letters in the middle of words is slightly bizarre. I also note that she has selected the religious option for her stamp rather than the secular but cheery Wallace and Gromit - though of course, it is possible that Graham was in charge of the stamping and posting of cards. 

Each year, I am fearful that Graham and Olwyn will have pruned their Christmas card list and we (or rather Jules and Harvey) will have been crossed off, but thankfully, not this year! Now, to assign it pride of place on the mantlepiece.

Comments

[Jennifer]

How wonderful!

[fifthlampdown]

I wish I had some Wallace and Gromit Christmas stamps!

Such a fun thing to look forward to each year, though I wonder if Jules and Harvey feel slighted by Graham and Olwyn.

[mooncalf]

I expect to get a lot of these this year.

When the previous owners of our house moved out they told NOBODY. We've had Tax notices, TV license renewals, DVLA letters, red bills, debt collection agencies!

I can now write 'return to sender' in my sleep.

----

And capital letters in the middle of words. Now that is very odd. I have met people who capitalise random Nouns. They are weird too.

[scentedsweetpeas]

LoVe it, gREat blog pOst, thANKs for mAKiNg me GiGGle :-)

[Bethany]

You should send one back :)

[Kate Rowe]

This is my favourite Christmas post so far. I am sure everyone gets those cards. We get one as well (not from Graham & Olwyn) I never thought to put it up on the string I will give it pride of place now

[Louise]

How odd that they have been sending a card to the wrong house for so long! I guess they haven't been in touch for years or the mistake would have been corrected after the first time! I think it's nice little treat to catch a glimpse into the lives of people you shouldn't ever have heard of, but it's also very sad that every year Graham and Olwyn think Jules and Harvey receive a card, I wonder if J & H send one to them?! Every year I'd be wishing G & O would add their address or phone number so that I could tell them of their mistake.

I was really disappointed recently when I bought stamps and they gave me the standard gold ones and not Wallace and Gromit.

I find it so irritating when people put capital letters in the middle of words that I would have put the card straight in the fire, despite the lovely picture on the front!

[Lou]

I love this post. It made me chuckle out aloud! Thank you
xx

[simone]

I love this 'post'!!! Do you think that Jules and Harvey 'befriended' them on holiday and gave them a fake address in case they ever turned up on the doorstep? Now there is a thought maybe next year you will meet them in person!!!

[kelly]

i quite annoyed the man in our post office, by handing back my six plain first class stamps & asking if it would be too much trouble to swap them for wallace & gromit ones! i quickly mumbled something about it being the children wanting them when it was clear that he did in fact think it was too much trouble, but really it was me!
kellyx

[carolyn]

thanks for the morning chuckle!

[Emma]

This made me smile.

[jen : painted fish studio]

love love love this post! :)

[Clare]

Love this post!

[blackbird]

That is too damn funny.

[Claudia]

ah ah ah ah, this is so funny!

[Jannette]

This has made me smile..

[kirsten]

ha! that is so awesome.

[kelly]

♥best post of the day♥

brilliant ali...you really tickled me!
incidentally that name olwyn really is nice isn't it?

[Anna]

Sheer Genius.
I reckon they met on a cruise and had to share a table for dinner etc. Swapped life stories, maybe Graham had a soft spot for Jules (because after all, she is a sweetie) and they all promised to Stay In Touch. Maybe every December Graham stalks the postman waiting for the day that Jules returns his sentiments.
Sigh.
There's a novel in there Ali!
x

[The Coffee Lady]

Oh, Jules and Harvey. I wonder if they care. I used to get texts from a man who clearly thought I was his girlfriend, even though I texted him to tell him otherwise. They were so sporadic and odd that I really didn't think the relationship had a future anyhow.

[Stacie.Make.Do.]

On a whim I used bing to search Jules and Harvey. There's at least one woman named Jules Harvey, and someone once had a video of their dogs, Jules and Harvey, on YouTube but it has unfortunately been removed...

Definitely a good story! Maybe the next Griffin and Sabine?

[Concha]

Hahaha! Hilarious post, Ali! Life has such wonderful things... so funny!

[kristina]

Oh how brilliant! K x

[Louise]

This made me smile! But do you think Olwyn may be reading this and recognise herself?

[Lynn]

AWESOME. Thanks for the laughter therapy.

I think Jules would be a very cool alias for you. Or Harvey.

[Liz Anderson]

I'm with Bethany above -- clearly this begs for a card sent in return.

Whether you sign from Graham and Olwyn is totally up to you.

[driftwood]

priceless xxx

[domestikate]

Ha ha, this is brilliant! Made me laugh and read it out to my husband!

[greetingarts]

So funny, cute, and a little bit sad! I'm glad you give it the most honored place on your mantlepiece.

scentedsweetpeas' comment was too too funny!

[Tiel]

best laugh of the day!

[Jane]

Yes I loved reading this too! Hilaruious stuff indeed. Smiles from Australia. Jane

[dottycookie]

And this post, right here, is the reason I love blog-reading. You are a gem, Ali!

[Monda]

I love this. Perhaps they will include their address next time and you can start sending them cards too.

We used to get lots of post for a Mr Sandhu, who lived in our house a trillion years ago (maybe). Alliance and Leicester took about 2 years to get the message that he just doesn't live here :o)

Monda
x

[Monica]

oh sweet!!

you should write back... it could be the start of a wonderful (if a bit weird friendship). On hindsight, actually no, don't let them know... it's better this way.

Merry Christmas.

[CoCo]

So funny! and sweet. Thanks for the giggle.

[Anna]

Well that's just fun. And I love their names.

[Heather]

What a charming story and told so perfectly!

It reminds me that, for a number of years, we received a Christmas card from some elderly neighbours. They always addressed my husband as 'Derek' (his name is David). We never had the heart to contradict them! Hx

[French Knots]

Priceless,I wonder how many years Graham and Olwyn will keep sending unreciprocated cards for?

[Katherine]

That's wonderful! Loved this post, and now I'm wishing that I got sent not-for-me cards, too!

[potterjotter]

Ha haa! That made me laugh with recognition - we used to get a not-for-us card too, but ours did stop eventually, presumably cos the senders never got a 'not-for-them' card from us?

[Sew Create It - Jane]

LOL - I must admit I had a slightly similar thing happen in that I'd been forwarding jokes from my email to my sister-in-law..except it wasn't my sister-in-law...I had the wrong email address...so I had been forwarding them to some random stranger..they never complained, so they must have been enjoying them! LOL

That's a nice card...I bet those couples have been friends for years!

[Thimbleanna]

Oh How Fun! Now I'm wanting a card just like it. I agree with someone else who said -- you should write back!

[Petit Filoux]

Hihi that's hilarious!!

[meg]

this is so awesome--in so many ways.

[Lucy@Attic24]

so funny, we used to have a similar thing at our old house, with a card coming each year from Singapore for some unknown family to our address.
It always came accompanied by one of those typed out "round robin" catchy up newletter things too, giving detailed news of their offsprings progress as expats in Singapore, made me feel quite sad actually!
Happy jolly festivities to you Ali, your writing and photograps are always a true pleasure in Blogland.
Much love
Lucexxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Linda Macdonald]

Very funny - that kind of thing has happened to me in the past but only as a one off in each case. I love the fact that you wait with anticipation for it each year. We all have our own, odd, personal traditions!

[yarnthyme]

If the capital letter is often an R she could be Irish.

[UK lass in US]

Aw, Jules and Harvey have probably been sending them cards all this time, wondering what they did to be cut from the Christmas card list.

Over here they put return addresses on each envelope, even for Domestic post, which helps clear up some mysteries. Still, you have me regreting that I let the person who kept e-mailing me their vacation photos know that they had the wrong address...

[Kitty]

Thank you for making me smile! I am ill and miserable, but this post cheered me right up. Merry Christmas. x