'My postman left something odd on my doorstep and then ran away'

A Brit was baffled after her local postman appeared to dump his bag full of post on her doorstep and disappear. "Postman just left his bag in our porch and we can't find him," she penned in a Reddit post alongside a snap of the bag crammed with letters and parcels.

It prompted hundreds of others to speculate as to his whereabouts and why he'd risk the correspondence falling into the wrong hands. "Give it a little and if he doesn't return then call your local office, mine had a medical emergency one time and had to go change," one person suggested.

They added: "He has Crohn's disease and was beyond embarrassed when he came back but now knows to just knock if he needs the loo."

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Indeed, a second concurred: "As a postie with IBS, I can confirm that it definitely has its moments. The first round I ever trained on had one public toilet on it, but it was at the very end of my round so from leaving the delivery office at 8.30 there was nowhere for me to even take a p*** until 4pm."

They continued: "The only potential place was tucked away behind some trees in a residential road, but the other side of the fence was a primary school playground so if it was break time for the kids, no piss for me. Not risking getting put on a register because of an unfortunately placed hole in a plank of wood."

Whilst a third Reddit user pondered: "The van has dropped it there part way round the 'loop', which is the walking part, so the postie doesn't have to carry two or more bags all the way round. To be honest, they usually ask before doing this to the householder though."

Others, meanwhile, suggested the woman should take the matter into her own hands and deliver the post herself. "I would be tempted to deliver some things," one Reddit user said.

"I did once find an Evri parcel on the side of the road (tracking showed out for delivery) and went to deliver it myself. I actually met the Evri driver looking through his boot for the parcel and he shook my hand for returning it."

Another quipped: "This is how postmen get chosen. When one retires, they leave their bag with whoever they feel would be the best postman."

And a third individual joked: "Get off Reddit and get that lot delivered."

Thankfully, however, there was no cause for serious alarm as the original poster later returned to share an insightful update.

"UPDATE: he came back," she said. "He went home for a s***."

"Truly first class," came the response of one Reddit user.

And a second humoured: "Urgent drop off."