Sea of crumbs left over

Sent Christmas parcel returned at Easter

Brigitte Bendl's Christmas cookies have not arrived(Bild: Imre Antal)

Snail mail: Grandma's cookies were returned by post. The disappointment is great. All that was left of the lovingly baked cookies was a sea of crumbs.

For many years, Brigitte Bendl has been sending a Christmas package of homemade cookies to a couple she has been friends with for many years. As her friends live on a mountain farm in Tyrol, the Lower Austrian posted the parcel to Hermes Paketversand in good time on December 11.

Never arrived in Tyrol
She was amazed when the postman rang her doorbell last week, more than three months later, and handed her this very parcel. "I thought I was crazy," says the pensioner. At first, she didn't dare open the cookie tin. "But when I did dare to take a look inside, my heart bled," says the 82-year-old. There was nothing left of the 18 different Christmas cookies made with lots of love but a sea of crumbs. The sweet treats had to go in the bin.

Senior citizen bitterly disappointed
When Bendl then lodged a complaint with the parcel service, she was promised a full refund of the shipping costs. For the pensioner, however, this was little consolation: "My concern is that my friends didn't receive any Christmas greetings."