POST OFFICE BLUES

It's the end of an era. There was a time, not so long ago,
when the Isle au Haut postoffice had some chairs for gossip,
a bulletin board for news and some postal services for anyone
who happened to need them. Then they downsized to a room
which might hold six persons standing up when the fire marshall
wasn't looking. They kept the bulletin boards though and folks
depended on them but the gossip department got moved to the dock.
However, there are four docks in summertime so it gets harder
than ever to keep the gossip straight.

Then comes a new regulation from President Clinton ( he'll say
he's not to blame but he says that about everything ) and the
bulletin boards have disappeared.

Well, it's enough to drive everyone to the Internet. Maybe that's
behind the whole thing. But once the community is wired and gets
its home page on the Internet for the news and the folks use e-mail
instead of letters, the postoffice might be downsized again and end
up be fit into a lobster crate. It was a lot more social the old way.