It's in the mail- celebrity edition

Next up in the continuing series of mailbox posts: this one deserves some background info.  Some years ago, I discovered the now defunct Letter Writers Alliance, an online resource for those who, as I do, value the physical written word.  One quirky product they made available was the Pigeon Post.  This made use of the fact that USPS regulations allow objects of unusual dimensions to be mailed without an enclosure or package.  It turns out you can put a life-sized plastic pigeon in the mail if it has proper postage and an address attached.  My pigeon was named Speckled Jim.  I mailed Speckled Jim to friends and family around the country, where they would photograph him in various locations before returning him to me by mail.  One of these trips, in particular, would turn out to be very special when Jim met a celebrity.  (I frequently point out that I myself have never met an A-list celebrity in the wild.  I've seen them on stage on Broadway, and I've met "specialty" celebrities like Nobel Prize winning scientists, and also local regional celebrities.  But never a major, nationally known one.  So Jim beats me there.)

On one of his trips, Jim went to a friend of mine from high school, who had become a senior flight attendant for American Airlines and was based in Chicago.  As such, she was eligible for the better routes, and often flew to places like Paris and London.  I sent Jim to her so that he may accompany her on one of her trips to London.  She sent back photos of Jim in pubs and neighborhoods, and on a traditional Royal Mail pillar box.  But upon landing on her return flight, I got an excited text saying, "Wait to you see the photo I got!"  And sure enough, on the London-Chicago flight was the star of the Harry Potty movies, Daniel Radcliffe.  My friend had somehow cornered Radcliffe in the airplane galley and persuaded him to pose for a photo with Speckled Jim.  I can't imagine what went through his mind while he did this!  But he was evidentially a good sport about it, and there now exists in the internet ether a photo of the famous child actor incongruously holding a plastic pigeon.

Daniel Radcliffe with Speckled Jim