Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night will keep the postman from his appointed rounds.

You can add “serious head injuries” to the list after Jerry Totten returned to his downtown route Thursday, a month after being struck by a pickup while delivering mail.

Totten, Lawrence’s sole walking-only postal worker, wore a helmet on his first day back.

“This is just today for a joke,” he said. “I’ve got the helmet the guys made me, the warning vest, the air horn just in case somebody comes close to me in the crosswalk.”

Totten was injured in a Feb. 1 accident at Seventh and New Hampshire streets and taken by helicopter to Kansas University Hospital in Kansas City, Kan., where he was in serious condition. Doctors told him it would take three months to recover.

“I said one month,” Totten said.

Since the accident, Totten said, he uses more caution.

Mostly, however, he was grateful to return – even if the weather was less than pleasant.

“It’s a great day. Yesterday was a greater day, because it was 70 degrees,” Totten said. “But it’s a great day to be back down here.”