Holiday greetings from the USA: a postcard arrives in Oberammergau four years late

Created: 03/15/2022, 05:30

By: Josef Hornsteiner

Unexpected mail: Ursula Erdinger with the postcard that took four years to Oberammergau.

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In 2018, a grandson sent a postcard from his vacation in the USA to his grandmother in Oberammergau.

Now it ends up in her mailbox.

Oberammergau

- 83 years old - that's how long it took a postcard from Brussels to finally reach its destination.

Rarely has a card traveled longer.

She covered just 45 kilometers to the Flemish village of Opbrakel.

The soldier Victor Morre sent the postcard to his family in 1926 with the request: "If you haven't sent a shirt yet, do it quickly." He waited in vain for this because the card slipped behind a cupboard at the post office and was there was only discovered in 2009.

But as the saying goes: better late than never.

Ursula Erdinger from Oberammergau has now also received a delayed shipment.

It is true that this postcard did not take 83 years.

But it was sent almost four years ago when her grandson was on vacation in America.

The 86-year-old laughs heartily when she thinks about the story of the holiday greeting that has been on the way to her since 2018.

Postcard postmarked February 18, 2022 in Jacksonville (Florida).

Erdinger has lived in Oberammergau for 20 years, before that in Ettal.

She'd never had any problems with deliveries--none of any note, at least.

Once her daughter Barbara had bad luck, she says.

Also with mail from the USA.

She studied in Washington decades ago, semester abroad.

She was registered in Innsbruck, Tyrol.

When the university in Washington wanted to send their documents to Innsbruck, nothing arrived there for over eight weeks.

The desperation grew until one day the messenger was at the door.

In addition to the Austrian stamp, the envelope had five other stamps on it – all from Australian provinces.

"Austria" is just not "Australia", the red continent.

"I then bought my daughter a T-shirt with the inscription: No Kangaroos in Austria," says Erdinger with a smile.

Now Erdinger has caught it.

But she didn't feel like laughing when she received the late card.

On March 1, she opened the mailbox and was amazed when her grandson Michael greeted her from vacation in Florida.

"What's he doing in America now?" she wondered.

At a time when war is raging in Ukraine and ruler Putin is threatening the United States with nuclear strikes.

The Russian President announced this on the very day the postcard arrived.

A stamp is printed on it: February 18, 2022 from the Jacksonville Post Office in Florida.

From there, the shipment went to Deutsche Post and immediately to the correct address in Oberammergau.

Grandson is in Augsburg instead of in America

"I immediately called my grandson," says Erdinger.

What is he doing in America?

Her Michael was amazed.

He is in Augsburg, attending master school there.

When she described the postcard to him, he had to laugh.

"I sent these to you in 2018," he reassured his grandmother.

All other relatives and friends would have received a postcard at the time, just not the 86-year-old.

"Now of course I know why," says the woman from Oberammergau with a wink.

The card was almost four years on the way.

This also explains why her grandson's wife, Sara, the "grandmother-in-law" suddenly used the 'Sie' again in her message to the sprightly pensioner, although they had long since offered each other the first name.

Klaus-Diether Nawrath listens to the story in astonishment and has to smile a little.

Of course, the spokesman for Deutsche Post Süd in Munich knows a few anecdotes about delays.

But four years?

Even the experienced Nawrath is amazed.

What does the pro think went wrong in America?

"Of course I can only speculate," he says.

Maybe the card got stuck in the mailbox.

Maybe it got stuck on the inside?

It may also have slipped behind a cupboard or a desk and only reappeared when you were cleaning up or moving?

"A lot is possible," says the spokesman.

No matter how the postcard was finally found and still sent: Erdinger is just as happy today as it would have been four years ago.