Rarity

We’re sat in a brasserie in Melrose and the Chief Book Reader is engrossed. Im looking through the window at the building opposite and I see an awful lot.
This was a Crown Post Office. Only 3% of post offices are like that nowadays, most are run by sub-postmasters in a shop setting. (I’m not criticising that, it’s a fact.) 
But this is how it once was, a dedicated office. This is now a crafts and gifts shop - thankfully, it is being used, because the building is splendid.
It is made of stone, lead, slate, wood and glass. 
Above the door is a crown and on either side, E and R. Below it a simple stained glass panel. It has sash windows, long painted up. A lead-topped balustrade and with rainwater sent behind the facade into pipes. On the side elevation the gutter sits on a stone shelf. All of this requires careful and attentive maintenance - which is costly - to preserve the integrity of the building. On the side wall I notice a green streak down it where water has been flowing. It should be easy to fix.
On the front elevation are three rusty rectangles which many years ago would have dispensed postage stamps for coins. The brass posting box remains and will be emptied daily to a timetable on the notice on the wooden door below it. 
And there is a still functioning iconic red telephone box, now getting very rare. Most have either been replaced with horrible modern ones or the facility removed entirely because we have mobile phones. Some red boxes have been retained by the community and turned into mini-libraries, defibrillator boxes or historical record places. 
I could go on an awful lot longer about this but hats off to you if you got this far!
PS: I’ve added a photo of the crown and date (which I hadn’t noticed) over the door. E for Edward, then.

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