Good Morning, I recently sent a parcel over to the U.K. These days one can track and trace parcels sent not only in one's own country but internationally as well. ---It's great to be living in the 21st century. On postal website pages one can see everything concerning the progress of a sent parcel.--the times that it was received in the various staging depots, where the pakkie was, where it is currently and where it will be and when. Did I mention that I just LURVE living in the 21 Century? Now I realize that GB is an island nation and that they do things their own way over there....there is tradition, their own money, political system and so forth. Doing things "one's own way" is a perceivable phenomenon that we on the mainland recognize and marvel at. I do not know if my question is one that ought to be directed to the British culture or to the the English-speaking community at large. At any rate, whilst keeping an eye on the parcel that I had sent, I couldn't help but notice on the International Track & Trace website page the following (see clipped capture below showing the estimated arrival date). This seemingly simple and straightforward estimation started me to thinking.....oké, great --the pakkie will arrive between Monday and Tuesday. ........but my question to English speaking cultures is, "what day of the week in your country falls between Monday and Tuesday"?! I guess to really be a nuisance---I could also ask what number is between 7 and 8?...but I won't go there; as in the sometimes magical and abstract world of mathematics... an answer for this question could probably be found. Right then guys, I truly believe that one is never too old to learn...so please enlighten me.
I would take that to mean the package will arrive on Monday or Tuesday ... very vague I know. It's like here, when waiting for the cable guy. They tell us he will be here between 8-5, and then he shows up the next day
My guess if this was brought to a court room they would argue that the first date starts on 0:00 AM and the second date ends on 23:59 PM. That's what I would do
When a delivery service covers it's hindquarters, that information means what Frank said....it is hoped (notice the word Estimated) that the package will be delivered sometime between the beginning of the work day on Monday and end of the work day on Tuesday. Using the word Estimated also gives them enough leeway to still be accurate even if the package doesn't arrive until Wednesday the 9th or even Thursday the 10th.
Direct reply to "what day of the week in your country falls between Monday and Tuesday"?!--here in Texas it is the 12 hour period when you go boot scootin' at the local saloon, or the 12 hour period when you ride the back roads with a friend, singin' country and western songs at the top of your lungs. What number is between 7 and 8? That is seven and a half--as in a $700 heifer and her calf worth half as much, or the half hour you have to call your mother to ask for $700 to go your bail before the jailer takes you into the courtroom! I hope this clears things up!
Well honey, that's as clear as a Texas cow pie. chortle So then, the day in-between monday and tuesday is actually an un-named incomplete day...a sort of Twilight Zone, as it were? A sci-fi reality between two days..... sommink like a "matrix". Right? "Normal" activities can go on in this matrix as you have shown. I can only hope that the postal wagon will run in that space. If the pakkie does not arrive and the datum goes over into the 9th....then your theory will not be holding water, I think. Am I right about that? For The Posties said clearly that the pakkie would arrive between the 7th and the 8th. It's all disconcerting to me...I feel like I am loosing a grip on reality. Yikes!
Don't worry Sjoerd, Jane's definition was like nothing I ever heard either. Born and raised here and I have never been boot scootin' or posted bail, guess I missed out on all the fun stuff.....by the way, just how do you know about those activities????
Yep, I would read that to mean that the pkg should be expected to be delivered no sooner than their earliest delivery on Monday, the 7th - and no later than their final delivery on Tuesday, the 8th - the "between" representing that window of time between those two finite points in time.
Package update: Where it said yesterday..."between the 7th and 8th.....there is nothing now. No estimation. It does not even show that the package has entered GB. Way down at the bottom in the smaller print of details, I see " Package placed on linehaul". There were two entry's, one for the 7th and a second one 24 hours later on the 8th. There was no further suggestion that the package would be delivered between two dates. It is in limbo, I reckon. It did not even make an appearance in Jane's suggested time period. This package and it's out of this world handlers are taking on a bizarre if not interesting dimension. Boot Scootin'......Ya gotta love that terminology.
Ah - that dratted word "estimated" - the master loophole. Fingers crossed that delivery occurs very soon.
A couple of years ago a package coming to us from just a couple of states north of us sat in a warehouse for over a month before someone actually did anything about it, even after multiple phone calls to USPS. No explanation, just one day it finally showed up on our porch. I think the mail carrier parked down the street, tiptoed up the driveway and gently placed it on the porch hoping to not make any noise that we might hear so he could leave it and run.
Toni, when we lived in town we had the worst mail carriers imaginable! One suffered from sweaty palms, so all our mail arrived damp. I think the woman who followed him was illiterate. We consistently had to trade mail with our neighbors, she mis-delivered a package and then denied it, and when confronted with the evidence, she said she was "just human". We also missed the notice of a car payment, and received another bill with tire tracks on it. A nice young man had seen the envelope lying in the gutter, picked it up and noticed it hadn't been opened, and brought it to us. And the post office wonders why people transact everything possible on the 'net!
Oh, good, I am so glad to hear we aren't the only ones with those kinds of mail carriers. Sweaty, moist magazines and other mail....next doors mail instead of ours (unless it's Dana's I usually write 'Try Again' on the envelope and hang it back out on the mailbox) And forgetting our two block route completely....that happens a few times a year. When sometime between 6:30-7:00 p.m. a mail truck screeches to a halt on the street and a totally unknown carrier practically runs the route to get our mail out I know we were forgotten again. They of course deny it, but we have lived in this house for 29 years, I know when they have forgotten us! To their defense though we have had 2 wonderful mail carriers over the years....Kelly when we first moved here and then Mike who was a always a pleasure to talk to. Since then, not so much.
Well, my partner and the lady to whom we sent the pakkie have been conversing. When my partner asked about what date was in-between the 7th and 8th, she just wrote back...."well obviously it's Motu Mar 7½th, surely you knew that!............" ---rolls eyes, shakes head. What IS that woman loik? I am enjoying reading the anecdotes from Jane and Toni. Thanks Zuzu--I appreciate your empathy. hahaha.
