Stuff...

I am still here, in the background, somewhere writing some letters, and doing hobbies when the time allows. I have not forgotten about this blog, but have been using my time to write letters, do hobbies, do other things too... So much has been happening this year but not always wonderful; I have not been in the headspace to blog, and have barely posted anything to (un)social media. I'm still on Instagram, but with the hashtags no longer fit for purpose (cannot see most recent posts for a hashtag, and it also repeats posts in the feed), and the algorithms forcing content on me as I scroll, OK, some of it is decent and inspiring, but most of it is uninteresting to me. When I do post, not much in the way of reaction nor comment, as if Meta is deliberately hiding my content from my followers and friends. So, maybe I should post more to forums, and to blogs, comments and such, places where you are not fodder for the unsocial scroll (if lucky). I am visiting a couple more forums I used to visit years ago, for another hobby or two. Small, quiet, but still friendly. 

I used to love taking pictures of postboxes, especially with woollen toppers created with care and talent. However, I can't pinpoint when, but at some point, the joy of the postbox has diminished.  Maybe the stories of postboxes being stolen - there was one about 15 miles away from me I wanted to photograph, attached to a post, but thieves nabbed it... Perhaps Royal Mail vandalising them turning them into parcel boxes, accepting packages that may damage/crush the post already inside the box... and I won't post my letters in them. They no longer seem that magical... 

Another concern I have is AI. AI is everywhere. Do I want my blog-ramblings to be used to train AI? Early on in my snail mail forum, I decided the forum shouldn't have everything visible to all, not even to new members who've only logged in. AI wasn't my concern for that, but possible rogue / not lovely accounts grabbing addresses (some threads have mailing addresses posted). New members don't automatically gain full normal access.  

I have used AI - I was for a while, using an "art" website with AI things to create images. I can't draw well at the best of times. It did seem "fun" in the early years, with its too many limbs, bad spelling, and such.. For writing though, not tried it other than to follow what Letters of Note did a few years ago asking ChatGPT for missive sign offs, and I wanted some German options - Alles Marmalade was one! 

Postage is rather shockingly expensive to send a postcard/letter abroad. Currently, it is £3.60 and asking Google shows this is just shy of 5 USD. Domestically, I use the 91p second class rate, so writing to penpals within Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland doesn't seem so expensive. If postage was more reasonably priced, then maybe I would want to do more promoting of snail mail, encouraging more people to discover the joys of penfriendship. Don't need expensive tools for the job: the nice smooth quality letter writing paper I use was under £5 a pad for A4; although I do use fountain pens, the cost of mine doesn't break the bank. My enthusiasm for promoting snail mail, for bringing new people in, has been very much dampened by Royal Mail's postage rates and attitudes (parcels/tracked does take priority over letters, even NHS ones), and the cost of living crisis (water rates/utility bills going up, gotta pay those fat cats / shareholders, even though quality of service goes down; food prices rising too). 

I'm going to cry...

This morning, I was monitoring a Royal Mail webpage. Before 8am, they had announced business and retail postal/service rate changes... but no mention about personal customers... was I lulled into a false sense of security?

I had a letter to affix postage to, so while I ummed and arred about which stamps to use, Royal Mail had updated the webpage announcing postage rate changes for personal customers. I noticed around midday. The postage rate changes come into force on 7th April 2026 

• Ist class to rise 10p to £1.80

• 2nd class to rise 4p to 91p

• Airmail up 20p, to £3.60, still 2 x 1st class.

I still have 1st class stamps, some bought when released at less than 60p. I have tried to somewhat futureproof my snail mail hobby, and am lucky I have been able to do this. For those who try to get by financially on a day-to-day basis, they may need to limit how much joy they can mail into the world... 

I'm off to cry in my cup of tea after I make it. Maybe I should use one of the many teabags penpals have enclosed in letters to me! 

February is the shortest month

 As we approach February., I look for new people to write to, hoping for more than a one-off correspondence, though whether they'll become good penpals is another thing. I know I cannot write to every one (even with money for postage, and time unlimited). InCoWriMo, International Correspondence Writing Month should be about friendship, connection, making the world a better place. I was disappointed to hear on a podcast that it isn't about any of those things. Instead, write a letter to your representatives (politicians, councillors), and to other public bodies and services. LetterMo is similar, having had the call to write to representatives before, but also prisoner penpals allowing an account to seek addresses for someone in prison (for not an easy to forgive crime). No wonder it has an 18+ policy. I don't recall if this was so back in 2012 when I joined. The change over to the new site lost a lot of information, connections and comments, and they've also lost me. 

The new InCoWriMo address exchange page was eventually created, but, Disqus has been marking genuine posts as spam. The frustration has turned somewhat nasty. Ahead of the frustration, I knew would be coming (posts marked as spam last year), I started a new forum for address exchange behind a login and approval process. Getting interest in it was hard work, and I've stepped back from promoting it (in the past, I've been thanked for helpful contributions and more). It seems many prefer the in the moment instant gratification of social media, with or without addressing privacy. I take privacy very seriously, and was utterly mortified when I accidentally shared an image with someone else's address (deleted as  soon  as I found out, and have apologised to them for it). I am human. I know my forums are not perfect, and I accept I am not perfect. 

Instagram has become dysfunctional. I searched the #InCoWriMo hashtag - the results terribly disappointing, repetitive, same posts a couple of rows down, and very little recent or even relevant for a hashtag with over 21K of posts to choose from, but would I ever be able to see even 100 of them?

I have been deleting Instagram posts, and don't have many shown at the moment (says 24, but I don't see that many). I did venture over to Threads, and while more wordy, and can see recent post results for a search, the algorithm shows me stuff I do not want to see. I've decided I can't deal with it, all the forced on you click-bait, dis/misinformation supposed hacks/advice. Browsing it was also glitchy, especially if you comment on a comment, it loses your place; stealing the bookmark from the novel you are reading. So, my account there is scheduled for deletion at the end of Feb. The comments and posts I made, although attracting some likes, didn't really mean much. Did my input interrupt you and to fob me off, you click like to say, "That's nice!" but it doesn't mean anything. 

I'm reminded that it is quality not quantity that matters. The great connections made through my main forum mean the world to me. So, while I don't have enough new people on the forums to write to for Incowrimo, Let's Write Letters Month does not have a minimum letter quota.

I know some members have not logged in for a while. That's fine. Some people want to have screen-free evenings away from work. I know mobiles are not the best devices to read forums/messageboards - the interface doesn't like you seeing the full picture. If I browse forums on my phone, I use the desktop version, and I think it is much easier to navigate. Yes, a phone may be handy, but you do lose something with the convenience. Typing on a phone isn't great either! 

February is Let's Write Letters Month

It is a shame a February letter writing project I loved, and have actively supported has become more or less unusable. The main issue is the use of automatic something-or-other, marking posts as spam and therefore not visible. Another project also has an automatic something-or-other so can't even make a new comment with updated information. It is a pity, as both projects are about human connection, with the chance to build friendships. Some of the friendships I have through these sites have lasted over 10 years. I do accept/understand that life/events can get in the way of things, such as for the alternative incowrimo site - I too had lost my enthusiasm for a while.... 

This I think went off to a penfriend found at a February letter writing project

Does this look like spam to you?

So, I've come to the conclusion to do something myself. Whether it will work or not... A work in progress. Anyway. Let's Write Letters Month hopefully promotes what it says on the tin... to write letters... No target number of letters, no need to write every (postal) day... As I write this, inco hasn't put up a new public address exchange page. So, Let's Write Letters Month is on a forum. Although still relatively public, it is behind a login, and also behind a manual approval process - https://febletters.boards.net/. Though at this rate, people would much prefer unsocial media, or a site that allows someone in to collect addresses for someone in prison for pictures/abuse. Can't compete with that.

Edit, 15th January - the inco site has been updated, but... still the same problem remains with many posts being marked as spam. Across a few sites, I'm aware of at least 5 people have had their posts marked as spam, on the new address page.

End of year review, 2025 edition

On the stamp front, the year started with an issue of stamps celebrating the British TV series, The Vicar of Dibley with Dawn French as the vicar. I did buy some of this issue. I am an atheist but did enjoy the episodes of this show I watched. 2026 will start with Stranger Things!

The music giant issue chosen for this year was AC/DC. I do like their music and did buy stamps. One of my favourite AC/DC songs is Thunderstruck. 

Nature appeared in a few issues this year. Garden Wildlife, Fungi, and Ducks, all worthy subjects but perhaps could have been better. 

Children's literature was celebrated with The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis (I didn't mind The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, but didn't read any others), and also somewhat by Peanuts, comic strip and cartoon about Charlie Brown and his dog Snoopy. 

Another reasonable issue was Myths and Legends, with Beowulf among others. 

World War 2 was marked yet again on stamps, perhaps not a bad thing considering the state of the world at the moment... with horrors forgotten.

Large stamps but otherwise good were the stamps commemorating 350 years of the founding of The Royal Observatory at Greenwich (I've stood either side of Greenwich Meridian), as were the Monty Python stamps too. 

Trains also made another appearance, with the 200th anniversary of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. Choo choo!

October saw some fun stamps - celebrating the board game, Monopoly. I haven't played this game in years (prefer other board games), although we do have a Welsh version. 

In November, I hardly bothered with the Christmas issue, no secular option again (no snowmen, no winter scenes with postboxes, no panto...). However, I did buy some stamps later in the month celebrating the stamps of Queen Victoria's reign but Royal Mail has been marking some mailings with these as postage as, "No longer valid for postage," which is absolute !!!!!!!!! 

On the letter writing front, I ran into snobbery - with etiquette and all that malarkey inferring that there's only one way to write letters and that is on expensive heavyweight unlined paper using a fountain pen with blue/black ink... again, utter !!!!!!!!!

The February letter writing challenges weren't as good as before... what with posts either being automatically marked as spam with no comeback, or when trying to update postal rates, unable to correct because it looks like I'd already said the same thing (but not the same - different numbers). Royal Mail raised postal rates twice, with airmail going from £2.80, to £3.20 in April, and then to £3.40  in October. The only small silver lining is that £3.40 can be made with just 2 1st class stamps, with so much choice of 1st class stamp available! £3.40, according to an exchange rate today is $4.58. USPS postage from the US to the UK is only $1.70. 

In July, my forum turned 10. With summer weather being decent, I was needing to do non-snail mail activities... It is still small... but the connections made make up for it. New thread for Five Questions, Answer by Snail Mail for January 2026 is open. 

I know I can't write to everyone... clash of personalities maybe, or topics of letters not interesting perhaps... Letters can't all be sweetness and light... Letters can be mismatched in length, content, may seem somewhat superficial with small talk (the weather... urgh, Storm Bram wasn't particularly wonderful for us), but if you can't write about things important to you without the recipient empathising at the very least... well.. you find out who your real friends are when you are in trouble/difficulty. 

Plans for 2026... Perhaps a silly idea but I've started something new for February. Putting final touches to Let's Write Letters Month. It'll be on a forum... 

Oops, I've bought more stationery!

Oops, don't I have enough stationery for my letter writing hobby? Yes, but that doesn't stop me from buying more. This month, I have ordered and received enough ink for a footbath! 

The latest to arrive is the Diamine Inkvent calendar, 2025 edition. I wasn't going to, but...  Anyway, it arrived today, on 8th December. I bought it just after December had started, however, the company I bought it from must have been quite overwhelmed with orders, it was sent on its way late on the 4th. My postie was overwhelmed on Saturday with mail, and as I'm late on the round, he didn't get to deliver it to me. He's off for a few days, so someone else delivered it first thing.

I opened the door to day 8, but haven't yet unwrapped the bottle. Do I do day 8 first, or should I start at the beginning? 

I also received other items of stationery including washi tape. Why oh why does it say, "mt for kids" ??? It should read, "mt for all!"

I really should be OK for pens, ink, paper, stickers, washi, wax seals, postage stamps... but well... if not in financial distress, then why not... For me, snail mail is a long term hobby; it brings me joy, creates connections, makes the world a smaller place. And while there are postal services... use them or lose them. Just look at Denmark. 

Stamps of Queen Victoria

Last month, Royal Mail issued a set of stamps showing some of the stamps of Queen Victoria's reign. I bought some: 1 miniature sheet, and 2 rows from the two sheets. I used some of them as postage for Christmas cards sent via airmail. 2 x 1st is the current airmail rate. Not exactly cheap, but convenient. 

Postage stamps celebrating stamps of Queen Victoria.

Norvic is having a little guess the 2026 stamp programme over on his blog, and I've submitted my guesses. Plenty of ideas for issues, but only submitted 12. Some TV shows would look nice on stamps - comedies, though maybe not all of them age well with the humour (didn't stop Only Fools and Horses). Maybe Keeping Up Appearances and Fawlty Towers would be good - both Patricia Routledge and Prunella Scales were the Ladies of Letters (on the radio - an excellent show). 

While Royal Mail keep us guessing, Deutsche Post via the Bundesfinanzministerium website have announced their intentions for 2027! And USPS has revealed some of its 2026 stamp program. So, I'll just twiddle thumbs, though that'll make it difficult to write more letters, send Christmas/Season's Greetings cards!