I returned home after 5-days in Edmonton. In the mail was an unexpected small parcel, crudely wrapped in a brown bubble envelope, reinforced with duct tape [shades of Red/Green]. It had a post mark from Switzerland, and a customs declaration which read: "chocolates". I could not make out the scrawled signature, though thought it could have read "Daniel". I normally would not have had second thoughts about opening such a package, but set it aside as I went through my other items: letters, bills, magazines...

Events of the past week, including anthrax letters had left a mild doubt about a strange, unexpected package from a country in Europe where I knew no one, nor knew any friends had been travelling to. [Well, there is Rudi, but there was no reason for him to be sending me chocolates... and of course, would have possibly been Dorian, had he not resettled on this side of the Atlantic.] For about two hours, I considered if I should call the police, that this might contain a letter bomb. Silly, though. Why me? Still, it is not everyday one gets such packages and news reports are creating a very paranoid milieu of suspicion.

Well, I noticed the bottom side of the envelope had already been slightly ripped open, so I carefully pulled the opening a bit wider. By now I was comfortable in believing there were no trick wires to set off an explosion, if that chocalates were indeed what the small rectangular box contained.

I gingerly removed the rest of the envelope and these was a box of Swiss chocolates. One of those "gold bars" filled with Pralines. Yumm... [ Just in time to sample before going to bed, as it was now 2am.] The box came as a "Thank you" card from a fellow Flyer Talker to whom I had sent some AC Aeroplan System-wide upgrades a few months back [nothing asked in return]. His note indicated that he did get his upgrade at the gate on the YYZ-ZUR flight, and enjoyed the pleasures of ExecutiveFirst.

So, I in turn, thank you, Daniel, even though you did give me pause. I guess that's one of the things about this Community. One can receive, out of the blue, a mysterious piece of mail from just about any corner of the globe, from a person we may have never actually met, but have made acquaintence with here. In these times, it is reassuring to know the vast majority of people on our planet remain good hearted.

Always love to hear good news!

The company where I work has just instituted some really dumb mail policies. It's nice to hear something good about mysterious packages, these days.

Thanks for taking the time to share the story.

Very nice!

Be especially watchful for packages from a certain sootkase tag manufactory