Allison Barnes is currently employed as a letter carrier in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She recently regaled us with stories of the pitfalls and pleasures of being a "postie" making me think she'd excel as a comedian. Her description of the yoga moves necessary to reach mail slots 6 inches from the ground while wearing 50 lb saddle bags of mail, left me in stitches. Her co-workers are training her how to, not only find mailboxes behind fences and under bushes, but also how to eat - "postie's eat bannans" and how to drive - "get your nose out there". Allison's sharp wit and easy storytelling combined with her other adventurous occupations including: lodge chef for grizzly bear enthusiasts in the remote rain forests of British Columbia, communications officer for the world's longest bicycle race (Cairo to Capetown), and camp cook for the Silk Route bike tour (Turkey to Uzbekistan), makes me hope there'll be a memoir one day.
You haven't lived until you've made a batch of beef stew in the scorching heat of a police station parking lot in Turkmenistan, with nothing to drink but warm water and cold fizzy camel's milk fermented in a two-litre pop bottle. AB
You haven't lived until you've made a batch of beef stew in the scorching heat of a police station parking lot in Turkmenistan, with nothing to drink but warm water and cold fizzy camel's milk fermented in a two-litre pop bottle. AB
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