I was scrolling through a couple of penpal groups on Facebook, and had forgotten that seeking penpals from every US state was a thing. I don't think I have seen an equivalent: Seeking penpals from every county of the UK.
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| Very historic counties of England, from Wiki. |
There's counties, county boroughs, shires, unitary authorities.... 48 in England, 33 in Scotland, 22 in Wales and 6 in Northern Ireland, I think. Looking through my address book, I've had letters off to at least a dozen English counties. Not sure I would want over a hundred UK-based penpals, though should international postage become rather prohibitive (currently £3.40 airmail, twice the price of a first class stamp)... maybe I should look for penpals closer to home!
Edit - I'm not seeking penpals directly from every county / state / country / city / wherever. Though perhaps in time, could say, "Oh, my penpal has been there!"
I must say that I am less appealed of having penpals from my own country. And, of course, I couldn't do with 50 new penpals! But trying to get a postcard from every county (or province, in my case), would be a very nice project.
ReplyDeleteI am more interested in the person than where they are at the time. Sometimes, we have not a lot of choice where we find ourselves.
DeleteWhen I rediscovered penpalling in 2008, I did want only overseas penpals (postage was quite cheap then), but at some point, interesting UK-based people tempted me!
I'm with you on that. It doesn't matter so much to me where someone lives. It's not the country / place that makes a person interesting, and to me, it's more about the person and how we connect (I have penpals who live only 100 km away from me!). Of course, every once in a while, I think 'it would be nice to have a penpal in xyz' because I'm interested in a particular country etc.. That usually passes quickly, though :-)
DeleteBeing an oldie I would stick to pre-1974 counties which number less than 40 for England. But then there are Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to consider!
ReplyDeleteI'd really like a penpal from Iceland but to be honest I haven't done much to find one.
ReplyDeleteI have had occasional correspondence from someone in Iceland, but isn't from there originally. I've also had some nice postcards from Iceland via Postcrossing.
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