My friend just moved to Huddersfield and text me last night to pass on her new address. Back in the day you would have got one of those cute little cards with a house on the front with 'We've Moved!' or something written on the front but now it's a text. Understandably, this avoids postage and stationery costs but isn't half as nice or as handy to keep with all your address books. I normally forget to write it down and end up ringing the person to ask for it again.
So I've decided to write her a letter so not only does she get nice post at her new address but then I feel less like texts are replacing EVERY interaction that we have.
One of my oldest friends bought a house last year and althought she lives five minutes walk away she posted me one of those cards just for the sake of having nice post (she's one of us ;) hee hee)
I can't say that I'll definitely post loads of cards when I have a house because a lot of us are cash strapped these days but I like to think I'll do a few at least. So what do/would you do? Card or text? Answers ona postcard ;)
Wednesday 23 February 2011
Monday 14 February 2011
Sad news but sometimes a letter can help.
Quite a maudlin post for what should be a day of love and affection but here goes...
This weekend I heard a girl who I'd gone to school and college with died of cancer. Now she's not someone I was ever close to and I must have had a handful of conversations with her in the time we ever knew each other but I still found it shocking and very sad news indeed.
When I was talking about it with my fiance, I was saying I was probably sad for selfish reasons as people tend to be when it's someone they don't know very well. Obviously you're sad for the person who has passed away and their nearest and dearest but honestly, you're mainly upset because it reminds you of when you've lost someone close to you in the past. The other reason is because it threatened my mortality a bit. This girl was only about 28 years old, no age at all really, and it made me think what I'd leave behind and what I have or haven't achieved. Basically, it's been a bit of a wake up call and kick up the bum.
What you won't know is that my friends and I lost people our age when we were at college so it's not the first time it's happened and that's probably another reason I'm so shell shocked. One of these people was a very close friend of mine and to this day I don't think I've never really come to terms with it properly. When he died (and here's the letter writing link) I wrote a note in a card to his parents telling them about what an impact he'd had on my life and on the lives of others. I think it's nice for the family to hear about the positive way their loved one made a difference to everybody in the long or short time they had on this earth and it made me feel happier knowing they knew and that I had an outlet for it all without having to get choked up saying it out aloud.
Although I've never done it, people sometimes write a letter to the person they've lost (that they obviously never send) so that they can grieve by getting things off their chest and it sounds like a great cathartic thing to do.
If something like this has happened to you (whichever side of it you're on) a letter can help a lot. I hope you send or receive one and that it brings you comfort.
This weekend I heard a girl who I'd gone to school and college with died of cancer. Now she's not someone I was ever close to and I must have had a handful of conversations with her in the time we ever knew each other but I still found it shocking and very sad news indeed.
When I was talking about it with my fiance, I was saying I was probably sad for selfish reasons as people tend to be when it's someone they don't know very well. Obviously you're sad for the person who has passed away and their nearest and dearest but honestly, you're mainly upset because it reminds you of when you've lost someone close to you in the past. The other reason is because it threatened my mortality a bit. This girl was only about 28 years old, no age at all really, and it made me think what I'd leave behind and what I have or haven't achieved. Basically, it's been a bit of a wake up call and kick up the bum.
What you won't know is that my friends and I lost people our age when we were at college so it's not the first time it's happened and that's probably another reason I'm so shell shocked. One of these people was a very close friend of mine and to this day I don't think I've never really come to terms with it properly. When he died (and here's the letter writing link) I wrote a note in a card to his parents telling them about what an impact he'd had on my life and on the lives of others. I think it's nice for the family to hear about the positive way their loved one made a difference to everybody in the long or short time they had on this earth and it made me feel happier knowing they knew and that I had an outlet for it all without having to get choked up saying it out aloud.
Although I've never done it, people sometimes write a letter to the person they've lost (that they obviously never send) so that they can grieve by getting things off their chest and it sounds like a great cathartic thing to do.
If something like this has happened to you (whichever side of it you're on) a letter can help a lot. I hope you send or receive one and that it brings you comfort.
Thursday 10 February 2011
Stationery - What's your fav?
Paperchase, Cath Kidston... (anything like that really) make my heart race in all their beautiful prints and people are just as excited to recieve a nice card or note paper. I also love handmade papers if I'm feeling a bit more flush.
Simply beautiful! What are your favourite stationery brands?
Monday 7 February 2011
My last letter.
I've been thinking about the actual last time I wrote a letter and it was when my friend was in Afghanistan. He's in the RAF and was posted over there on another 6 month tour. He was appealing to friends and family to send him and the other guys in his regiment letters or things to keep them amused, no matter how random so I sent him a letter and a copy of a Chris Moyles audio book.
My point is that the forces and their family and friends are the main group I know who still write letters to one another. There's a romance that surrounds couples separated by circumstance where they write letters of longing for one another and when you see people reunited after all the risk and separation it's pretty intense and amazing.
Who did you write your last letter to and why?
(Pic courtesy of mod.uk)
My point is that the forces and their family and friends are the main group I know who still write letters to one another. There's a romance that surrounds couples separated by circumstance where they write letters of longing for one another and when you see people reunited after all the risk and separation it's pretty intense and amazing.
Who did you write your last letter to and why?
Friday 4 February 2011
Let's get cracking
Hello again everyone and a big welcome to our new penpals :) I don't know how you all want to go about this (I'm still impressed by the way people have found this and have been tweeting etc) but here are my thoughts.
Since I'm assuming that none of us know each other in real life I thought we could each post a comment under this post giving a little intro to ourselves but without giving away too many personal details. I think this will be a great way to find out who we're going to be compatible with in 'penpal terms' and then we can start writing letters to those who we want. This page acts as a meeting board/main forum and maybe eventually a support network for each other in whatever guise.
We can all write to as many people as we want as many times as we want. For example you can write to one person lots or you could see something you both like and maybe send something to someone once because you know that person appreciates it. Or if we hear that a fellow penpal is having a rough time or has something to celebrate we can send them messages of support/congratulations.
I'm of course very aware about weirdos hence the fact I'm insisting that no addresses or anything should ever be swapped on this blog page! If you want to start writing to someone please swap email addresses and swap addresses privately. This is all entirely up to you, what you're comfortable with etc.Once we're all happy with how everything is going to go, I'll write up some official 'user rules' so we all know where we are, what we're doing and what's acceptable.
Most of all I just want people to enjoy this, have an excuse to write nice letter and get a bit of nice post once in a while. I want us to discuss great stationery, what letter writing means to us and all sorts like that. Also, invite as many people as you can - the more the merrier! Give me a bit of feedback if you have the time. Otherwise lets get cracking!
Nat x
Since I'm assuming that none of us know each other in real life I thought we could each post a comment under this post giving a little intro to ourselves but without giving away too many personal details. I think this will be a great way to find out who we're going to be compatible with in 'penpal terms' and then we can start writing letters to those who we want. This page acts as a meeting board/main forum and maybe eventually a support network for each other in whatever guise.
We can all write to as many people as we want as many times as we want. For example you can write to one person lots or you could see something you both like and maybe send something to someone once because you know that person appreciates it. Or if we hear that a fellow penpal is having a rough time or has something to celebrate we can send them messages of support/congratulations.
I'm of course very aware about weirdos hence the fact I'm insisting that no addresses or anything should ever be swapped on this blog page! If you want to start writing to someone please swap email addresses and swap addresses privately. This is all entirely up to you, what you're comfortable with etc.Once we're all happy with how everything is going to go, I'll write up some official 'user rules' so we all know where we are, what we're doing and what's acceptable.
Most of all I just want people to enjoy this, have an excuse to write nice letter and get a bit of nice post once in a while. I want us to discuss great stationery, what letter writing means to us and all sorts like that. Also, invite as many people as you can - the more the merrier! Give me a bit of feedback if you have the time. Otherwise lets get cracking!
Nat x
Thursday 3 February 2011
My inspiration
Yesterday I received some copies of photographs of a very special and exciting day in my life. It was so nice to get some post that wasn't a bill, a circular or just something boring and it reminded me of how much I love getting a letter or a postcard and how quite a number of years had passes since I have actually had either of these. The feeling of anticipation you get when you're expecting a letter or something good through the mail is a great and positive buzz and I want that more often. In these hard times something so simple can make a difference to you and the recipient!
With the invention of Facebook, Twitter and I suppose email, all these traditional ways of staying in touch with one another have become redundant. Even Birthday and Christmas cards have given way to mass texts, tweets, emails etc and I'm as guilty of that as the next person. But it's terribly sad when you think about it so I thought I'd tweet and say how much I wanted people to write letters. This tweet was met with an exceptional response and so that's why I've set up this page. Where it goes and how good it ends up being ultimately lies with all of you.
I'd love you to join my blog page, invite other like minded people and then we can start sorting out people to write to and all that jazz. I'm very excited about this and judging by your messages to me, you lot are just as happy as me to get this off the ground.
I welcome any suggestions on how you think I should do this and I'll let you know my thoughts shortly and you can see what you think.
With the invention of Facebook, Twitter and I suppose email, all these traditional ways of staying in touch with one another have become redundant. Even Birthday and Christmas cards have given way to mass texts, tweets, emails etc and I'm as guilty of that as the next person. But it's terribly sad when you think about it so I thought I'd tweet and say how much I wanted people to write letters. This tweet was met with an exceptional response and so that's why I've set up this page. Where it goes and how good it ends up being ultimately lies with all of you.
I'd love you to join my blog page, invite other like minded people and then we can start sorting out people to write to and all that jazz. I'm very excited about this and judging by your messages to me, you lot are just as happy as me to get this off the ground.
I welcome any suggestions on how you think I should do this and I'll let you know my thoughts shortly and you can see what you think.
Wednesday 2 February 2011
Welcome!
Hi,
I've been getting a decent response from people straight away about this so I thought I'd get the ball rolling and set up a central point for people for now until I figure out how we can all do this and get lovely post more regularly!
The basic idea will be for people to meet new friends and start writing letters to existing friends. Let's bring letter writing back!
I've been getting a decent response from people straight away about this so I thought I'd get the ball rolling and set up a central point for people for now until I figure out how we can all do this and get lovely post more regularly!
The basic idea will be for people to meet new friends and start writing letters to existing friends. Let's bring letter writing back!
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