ISO 3166
OUTLINE
Uri, Carla, Alexander, Najwa
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DAWN, LONDON CENTRAL MAIL CENTER
The yellow striped red van carefully pulls back to dock at gate 17. Two Royal Mail employees—one leaning on his Pallet jack's handle, the other taking advantage of the open gate to smoke a cigarette—and a supervisor, wait for the driver to open the van's back door. Inside, a wooden box is securely strapped to a pallet.
MAIN SORTING ROOM, LONDON CENTRAL MAIL CENTER
A loud rumbling noise echoes throughout the facility as letters tumble inside a gigantic drum called the Segragator. The supervisor take pictures as the two employees cut the metal straps then dismantle the wooden box which has been lowered next to an oversize sorting table. The crews of experienced [1] which has been assembled by management for the unusual task are fascinated as they discover the rusty trunk. The supervisor moves in to lift the lid. The trunk is filled with letters, most of them intact.
One by one, the content of the trunk is carefully laid out on the table and each letter is photographed—recto/verso. The letters are then placed in a different section on the table according to their country code. As all mail should be destined to Australia—the sunken ship was bound for Melbourne—letters are sorted by addressers. The first section handles the UK and Europe excluding Russia, another, The United States and Canada; a third one, the rest of the Americas and Africa; a fourth one for Asia excluding Russia, and finally the fifth section for the ex-USSR and for countries which have disappeared.
SORTING TABLE, LONDON CENTRAL MAIL CENTER
The sorter responsible for section 5 pulls out a letter emanating from Königsberg, Prussia.
-Prussia! Isn't that Germany? Shouldn't it go to section 1.
-Well where in Prussia, could also be Poland, answers the sorter at section 1.
-Königsberg, sounds German to me...
-That's Kaliningrad. The Russians kept that parcel of land. Stays in your pile mate.
SECTION 4, SORTING TABLE, LONDON CENTRAL MAIL CENTER
Now that all the mail has been sorted by global regions, each section labels its letters according to their new country code. The sorter at section 4 pulls one out.
-I got one here on that said Palestine, but with the Queen's face on the stamp.
-What city? asks the man at section 1, who seems to be the most knowledgeable.
-Avhayil...
-Avhayil? No idea. What's the name?
-Isabella Altaras, Avihayil Moshav, Avhayil, Palestine.
-Show me.
The man from section 1 hands the letter to the one from section 4 who reads out loud.
-Avihayil Moshav... That's like a Kibbutz. IL.