"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
news
An elderly friend is going abroad over Christmas for 5 weeks to visit
family, and wants to know what to do about his letterbox, which wont hold
5 weeks of mail and would rather give the game away if left stuffed with
weeks old letters.

Poste Restante seems to only hold mail for two weeks.

What are the alternatives?

One obvious alternative is to get a neighbour to collect the mail.

That's what we do.