A card expected in Brigg to mark someone's birthday last November was delivered very recently in the town - seven months after the celebrations had concluded.
The envelope was addressed correctly, including the full DN20 postcode, and carried a second class stamp when posted in the Scunthorpe area.
But for some reason it ended up in Dorset (postcode SP7) where someone eventually reposted it, writing on the back 'Not Shaftesbury Dorset'.
What should have been a modest nine-mile journey from steel town to historic market town turned into a 490-mile marathon round trip.
The UK postal service is usually very reliable, and prompt. The number of letters that fail to get through on time is small when compared with the number of emails that are flagged 'Message Undeliverable'.
In this case the card did make it to the intended recipient... in the end!