Still writing

Snail mail life still continues. I can write to penpals around the world, postal services permitting. The lovely people at Postcrossing have come up with a Postal Monitor to keep track of service disruptions, and links to service updates on the various postal websites.

Some mail has been delayed, sailing across the oceans. For a while, I was sending most letters to the US via the international economy (surface mail) rate. Mail for continental Europe still had to go by Air Mail.

I haven't been able to buy any of the new issue stamps. The last issue I bought was the James Bond issue, but I wasn't able to get many. Years of buying stamps meant I didn't really need to buy stamps. I might try for the next issue celebrating the music group, Queen.

I have been receiving post. Some has come with slogan postmarks. This one, Let's Talk Loneliness is from this month.

Others have been able to buy the new stamps out in the US. I quite like the new global forever stamp, but it does look a little like something else, unintended.

I also like some of the stamps out of Germany. I wasn't a huge fan of Sesame Street but I did learn things from it.

I think I like most stamps. Look how small the stamp is from Canada!

However, it doesn't have the magic in some of the stamps Royal Mail has produced. There were a few issues for Star Wars but only 1 issue had the magic revealed via UV.

Stamps not only can take letters/parcels through the post, they can take people on a journey of knowledge. I really should read more about John Archer, a mayor in London. Wikipedia doesn't have a lot on him.

Surface mail update, and an oops

The story so far...

Surface Mail was posted for the 5pm collection on Friday 7th March.

I have had reports back that 2 have already arrived - one went to Toronto in Canada... and the other went to Massachussetts.....  12th March.... However, in the one envelope, I had enclosed a letter to someone else in my surface mail experiment! Oops. Never done this before, although I have heard stories on a penpalling forum about this happening occasionally.... I wonder if it was just 2 letters getting mixed up or whether I wrote two letters to the same person..... Never write 13 short letters in one evening!

Surface Mail Experiment

With the impending price rise, the cost of sending a postcard abroad will go from 88p up to 97p for Europe and £1.28 to the rest of the world by "airmail" or International Standard. There has been talk amongst UK Postcrossers about sending postcards via surface mail (or, International Economy).  Current price for upto 20g to rest of the world is 78p and will rise to 81p.. a "considerable" saving. However, how long will the post take to reach the destination. Royal Mail, according to their website, aims to deliver surface mail to the USA within 28 days.... and I've had a look at other selected rest of the world countries and to them, RM's aim is within 56 days. So, I thought I would test it. On the 7th March, I posted in the postbox with 5 minutes to spare for the 5pm collection, letters (note, letters, not naked postcards), to people in: Canada - Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia; South Africa; USA - two people in TX, and one in MA, FL, IA, MI, and Hawaii; and one in Australia. 13 items in total. I didn't write "Surface Mail" on any.
May send another batch of surface mail stuff later in the month or next month and hopefully to other countries...