When one of the helium-filled balloons released by excited youngsters at a school summer fair in Fareham, Hampshire, was found in France, the organisers were rather impressed that it had got so far.
The winner of the balloon race was duly declared at Wykeham House school's speech day and the event forgotten.
Until, that is, another of the participants, 10-year-old Amy Robjohns, received a postcard from a teenager in Uruguay.
Her balloon, which carried a tag bearing her name and address, had not simply floated across the Channel; it had somehow survived a four-month trip of thousands of miles, presumably across the Atlantic, before finally coming to rest in a field in Montevideo.
Amy's father, Neil, 42, said the balloon was found by a 14-year-old called Juan Lopez. He had returned the tag, along with a Uruguayan bank note and a postcard.
Mr Robjohns said the boy described, in basic English, how he had found the balloon near his school. He expressed amazement that it had got so far.
Organisers believe the balloon must have ascended so high that it was caught up in one of the very fast airstreams used by balloonists attempting long-distance trips.
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