Ode to a Mailbox

There was a hit and run at our house this week. The victim: our mailbox. I came home on Tuesday and saw this:

There was mail inside, but no note from the person who hit it. Based on the height of the mailbox, I reason it was probably a large truck. I hope that large truck was damaged, because my mailbox certainly was and they didn't have the chutzpa to leave a note. I shouldn't be surprised, they probably thought it was a cheap simple fix. Well, our neighborhood has uniform mailboxes so we have to get a specific one. We contacted the HOA to find out who we have to buy the mailbox from. After contacting this company, we were told we could get a new mailbox (post, box, house number and all) for $300. $300!!!!! Are you kidding me? It's a freakin mailbox! Well, for $70 we can just replace the box part (installation included) or for $40 we can drive an hour away and pickup a new mailbox. With the cost of gas (and our time), we opted for the $70 option. The problem is, the number is welded to the pole and the number is no longer perpendicular to the pole. We'll see how it looks with the new box. If the HOA has a problem with a house number not being perpendicular to the post, they can pony up the $230 to get that fixed (I know, that's not how things work but that $230 just ain't happening).