Please Mr. Postman

No, I haven't received my letter yet, so I don't know whether or not I'll be a subway musician next year.

I haven't been singing very much in the subway either. Rather than considering myself stalled, I'd prefer to think I've just briefly pulled off to the shoulder.

Last week I had a bad cold, making singing a challenge (although I did play a show at the City Roots/City Wide festival in Toronto's historic Distillery District). In the three days leading up to the festival, I exhausted our household's supply of ginger tea, which seemed to help. If nothing else, it made me need to pee so often it must have flushed the virus out of my system, thus allowing a dense cloud of ragweed pollen to invade and keep me in the sniffles.

For the last few days, even though I haven't quite admitted it to myself, I've been watching expectantly for the arrival of Patrick, our postman. (Yes, his name really is Postman Pat.)

Like other letter carriers I have met over the years, Pat is a perpetually cheerful guy. He always says hello and smiles and he always has a spring in his step, even when it's fall outside and his mailbag must weigh a ton with the various catalogues and reports he's delivering. Today we received both a Staples and a Lee Valley catalogue, giving me more excuses than usual to procrastinate as I think about all the office supplies and woodworking tools I suddenly may need.

I may not need them after all. But the perception or possibility of need is there. It's printed on all the ink-on-paper communication that comes through my mail-slot. Even if I toss them immediately into the recycling bin, the envelopes lying on my vestibule floor always appear to me, at least for a few seconds before I pick them up, potentially essential.

That's worth something.

And that must be why Postman Pat seems so happy all the time. Many people wait for him with a happy expectancy. If occasionally the waiting is also accompanied by a shadow of suspense (for the mail could also bring unhappy news) it always, also, holds the possibility of a surprise twist that could change everything.

That moment of anticipation, when we're really not sure what is around the corner but even if it might be bad we can't resist finding out, makes Pat a pretty popular guy. No wonder he's always smiling.