‘A bit of normality’

For Portlethen postwoman Kerry Melville, her morning routine is much the same as it was before coronavirus hit the UK.

Starting work at 4.15am, Kerry and the team go through customer’s parcels in the sorting office - following social distancing rules - and prepare to go out on their deliveries.

But while the day-to-day duties have remained similar, as soon as she hits the road, Kerry becomes all too aware of how quiet the area is - going in and out of empty offices to hand over mail, or sometimes, leaving it in a mail box outside.

The colourful rainbows in the windows of many of the houses on her round in Portlethen keep her spirits up, however, as do the many locals who pop their head out to say hello as she passes.

‘My round is the Badentoy Estate in Portlethen,’ Kerry told the Press & Journal. ‘It’s just very quiet. The area I cover is a mixture of companies and residential. Usually, the companies I visit are full and bustling with everyone going about their business, but now it’s just so quiet.

‘You go into receptions and there’s no-one there. Some are completely locked down, others have a box left out for the mail. n the residential bit I do, there are a lot of young families. We have children who have painted rainbows on their windows and we often get a knock from kids giving us a wave.

‘When I meet people out and about, they don't get too close, but they'll stand a distance away and have a chat. Others will pop their head out their window to ask how we’re doing, to see if we’re OK. The area is quite community-spirited.

‘I'm OK about going about my duties. In my opinion I'm quite lucky I still have a job. The bit I do is quite nice and if you’re out and about, you’re not thinking about it so much.

‘It's nice for people to see a bit of normality in such a worrying time. It's sometimes nice to see a postie doing his or her rounds because it’s one of the most normal things they have seen.’

Delivery office manager, David Cruickshank, praised his team for pulling together in these extraordinary times and going above and beyond for their local communities.

‘The job has changed, but people are really pulling together, he said. ‘We have posties doing shopping for the elderly. They’re great, they just get on with it. The more we help the community, the more people appreciate it.’