And this is why I love this fandom…

Tuesdays *ooof*days are my favourite days, anyway, but never more so than today. I have just received a letter from overseas, and I nearly died an instant death by smoulder when I picked up my mail in the hall. Thorin on the envelope – I had trouble getting my breathing under control again. Seriously, NZ post – you’ll have some litigation on your hands, as soon as thousands of *unsuspecting* females may come across these stamps and the outbreak of the Ladykiller bug will be spread all over the globe!!!

But jokes aside, it comes as a timely reminder for me that this fandom has exquisite, generous and wonderful people participating. Because the envelope didn’t just send itself alone. It came from fellow RA fan M___ who reacted to my public plea for an NZ resident to pleasepleaseplease send me a postcard with the Thorin stamp on it. M___ and I do not know each other. We had never communicated, save from that chance meeting on Crystalchandlyre‘s blog. (Wouldn’t you know it: It was a Tuesday, too…) And yet M___ immediately offered. And more than that – she refused any remuneration, she did not just buy *one* Thorin stamp but five, *and* she enclosed a beautiful wall calendar of her native New Zealand for me to enjoy. Much more than that, she also hand-wrote a personal letter to me, recounting how she had practically begged the NZ post to sell her the stamps *the day they were issued* and ended up the first person to actually buy them in her local post-office.

M___ – if you read this: Thank you a thousand times! What you did was beyond my expectations, and I think you have proven once again what R___ and his British co-stars have expressed many times: Kiwis are an extrordinary bunch of people. Your openness, generosity and helpfulness speaks for itself. Plus, you have given me hope and love for my fandom at a time when I badly need it. You are an absolute star, and I am sure the universe will reward you. If not, wait for the mail…

And now for our communal thudding enjoyment I give you the Thorin stamp again.

PS: Today’s *ooof* and ficlet are out on me+r, too – and I belatedly dedicate both to M___.