With Christmas nearly upon us, I notice a decrease in correspondence coming my way. I don't particularly mind as I will probably not reply this year to any letters arriving after the end of this week. I slow down, and do a few other things, spend time with the family and all that. It is not because I do not want to post letters at this time of year, it is just I do not want to rush letters out for them to sit in a mailbag for days when the postal service grinds almost to a halt over the festive period (especially if it is a White Christmas).I have a few more festive cards to send out internationally this week, but I also must not forget to send to my UK friends too.
I don't send gifts to my penpals, except perhaps for a few simple flat things like stickers, interesting newspaper articles, postcards and photos. I wouldn't know what to gift, and with postage rates getting high plus there has been a change in regulations for what can be sent in the post.
I was writing a reply to a beautifully handwritten (calligraphed) letter while sat in a cafe when I noticed I was being watched by a group of lads. One said that my handwriting was nice and I replied that it is if I use a fountain pen (I was using one), then went on to comment on a couple of schoolhood (is that actually a word?) events:
- One history teacher marked me 1/10 for homework because he couldn't read my writing, however, I was unable to decipher his hand-scrawled comments
- My biology teacher suggested I cease using a ballpoint pen and use a fountain (cartridge) pen to improve my handwriting
I showed them the letter I was replying to and said that my handwriting wasn't as neat as my correspondent's. With fountain pens, you take more care with writing and this should make it more legible. I wonder if any of the lads will have a fountain pen in the near future!
November stats:
Letters - out 13, in 8
Postcards - in 23
Other - in 6