Finally the planets aligned long enough for myself and the post office to find common ground, a moment in time when I had the day off and the post office wasn't inexplicably closed.
As I previously mentioned, the post works differently here. Rather than many post offices conveniently dotted about the place, there is just one MASSIVE post office.
This image doesn't really do justice to the size of the place, a 5 storey multi-layered leviathan rising up out of the desert on the shore of the Arabian Gulf.
It is simply enormous. Finding the front door is a task in itself. Inside is a maze of private post boxes, each the same size, each totally identical. Should you find your way through the maze to the centre of the superstructure you can then target the power regulator on the north tower.
The centre is like being in the biggest bank the 80s could dream up, complete with appropriately dated decor and crawling LED signs.
There is nowhere to buy packaging. When I asked the solitary service desk attendant about it, she simply handed me an envelope and went back about her business. When I enquired about stamps I was shooed in the direction of the long line of emotionless tellers dressed forlornly in their tradition black abaya.
Upon reaching the front of the queue, I again asked about postage, my letter was snatched from my hand and weighed. "$4" was all that was said, I paid and the letter was handed back to me. I enquired as to where I might post the letter and was again deflected by the wave of a dismissive hand in a general direction.
For the next 30 minutes I scoured the internal landscape for any signs of where I could stick my letter. Lost in the maze of private boxes, my suspicious behaviour was picked up by security. A man in a full brown leather uniform took me aside and upon realizing my predicament pointed me in the direction of the only slot in the building, much to his own amusement.
Indeed in a further showing of this supposed centralized efficiency, all mail has been narrowed down to an unassuming single simple slot. The thought of whatever lies beneath would make a great premise for a horror movie.
Coming this summer "The Slot"
As I previously mentioned, the post works differently here. Rather than many post offices conveniently dotted about the place, there is just one MASSIVE post office.
This image doesn't really do justice to the size of the place, a 5 storey multi-layered leviathan rising up out of the desert on the shore of the Arabian Gulf.
It is simply enormous. Finding the front door is a task in itself. Inside is a maze of private post boxes, each the same size, each totally identical. Should you find your way through the maze to the centre of the superstructure you can then target the power regulator on the north tower.
The centre is like being in the biggest bank the 80s could dream up, complete with appropriately dated decor and crawling LED signs.
There is nowhere to buy packaging. When I asked the solitary service desk attendant about it, she simply handed me an envelope and went back about her business. When I enquired about stamps I was shooed in the direction of the long line of emotionless tellers dressed forlornly in their tradition black abaya.
Upon reaching the front of the queue, I again asked about postage, my letter was snatched from my hand and weighed. "$4" was all that was said, I paid and the letter was handed back to me. I enquired as to where I might post the letter and was again deflected by the wave of a dismissive hand in a general direction.
For the next 30 minutes I scoured the internal landscape for any signs of where I could stick my letter. Lost in the maze of private boxes, my suspicious behaviour was picked up by security. A man in a full brown leather uniform took me aside and upon realizing my predicament pointed me in the direction of the only slot in the building, much to his own amusement.
Indeed in a further showing of this supposed centralized efficiency, all mail has been narrowed down to an unassuming single simple slot. The thought of whatever lies beneath would make a great premise for a horror movie.
Coming this summer "The Slot"
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