from Bermuda to Canada on July 19, 1961.

Mrs. Pawlowsky received it in Lachine, Quebec on February 10 this year.

The English language The Gazette of Montreal broke the story last week about the wayward card and an investigation has begun.

There is a large red Bermuda Post stamp of that July day which may mean the letter at least left Bermuda.

But director of communications for Canada Post Louise Roy said it was unlikely the postcard was lost at one of the area's processing plants.

All were rebuilt in 1977 and 1979, and the mailboxes are new as well "so the postcard could not have been stuck in one all this time'' Ms Roy told Montreal's The Gazette .

"It's a mystery of life, we ask ourselves where does it come from?'' Ms Roy added.

Last week, Bermuda's Postmaster General Clevelyn Crichlow described the saga of the wayward postcard as "kind of unusual''.

"It looks to me that it may have been delivered to the wrong household,'' he said.

"Someone may have died and a family member may have remailed it.'' "They (Canada Post) are right,'' Mr. Crichlow added. "It would be interesting to see what the postmarks are.'' The story begins with Marion Abraham, newly arrived with her husband and baby, visiting Charles Abraham's family.

She sent a card of Devonshire Dock -- which is described as having palm trees, blue sky and water -- with a single stamp.

When contacted last week, Mrs. Abraham said she had received a copy of the article from another friend in Canada.

"It was quite shocking,'' she said.

"We were visiting at the time. You don't think to ask about that sort of thing (whether someone received your postcard) when you return home,'' Mrs.

Abraham continued.

A further mystery about the card is why and when it had been rerouted from Mrs. Pawlowsky's father's house.

Someone crossed out that address and wrote at the bottom of the card to try Mrs. Pawlowsky's current address in Lachine, Quebec.

Mrs. Pawlowsky told Montreal's The Gazette her father, who died in 1987, never received the card. If he had, she said, he would have given it to her.

She described her shock when she received the card this month.

"I went what's this? Marion and Charles? And then I looked and said, `Geez, that's strange,'' she recalled.

The article in Montreal's The Gazette describes Mrs. Pawlowsky and Mrs.

Abraham as lifelong friends who met through their mothers who were also friends.

Mrs. Abraham moved to Bermuda to work as a nurse and met her husband here.

They returned to Canada and finally returned to Bermuda 12 years ago.