Some nice post

My first InCoWriMo surprise letter reached me yesterday on the 7th February, earlier than my first surprise from LetterMo last year. I also received yesterday a letter from a regular correspondent

I used my letter knife to open the one from the Netherlands...

Inside that, was a letter written on Diddl wavy paper. I am not too old for Diddl, although it is cute.

Weather, letters, ....

This winter, I don't think this Mailbox Gritbox has had much use.... but....

2013 didn't end well and 2014 didn't start well either due to the weather. Storms and wind together with high spring tides caused flooding in December along the east coast of England, and heavy rain flooded many parts of the UK over Christmas, and also the wind caused havoc. We were away when we returned to storm battered Wales and the battering wasn't over, with January high spring tide + storms affecting Wales and south-west England. February high spring tide + storms have affected Wales a bit, and England's south-west and south coasts... 

Post had been delivered in the rain while we ere away over the festive period and was a little bit on the damp side... I tend now to use ballpoint pens for the address, for fear fountain pen ink would run in the rain.  Luckily, these made it to me...

The paper crinkled from the water... but the letter was still readable.

One of my presents was To The Letter by Simon Garfield... I have started reading it. I intend to write a few comments about it for this blog. Maybe for my birthday, I could ask for Shaun Usher's Letters of Note.

Lettermo/InCoWriMo progress

So, there have been 4 postal days here in the UK, and I have sent 6 letters, including two for people via Lettermo/InCoWriMo. It is early days, but my letterbox has been very quiet, last mail for me was received on Saturday 1st. Last year, my first surprise letter arrived here on the 12th so plenty of time. Looking back on last year though, I sent about a dozen Lettermo surprises but none of those led to a correspondence, and received about a dozen surprises all replied but maybe only a third of those still correspond. Sometimes I feel disappointed. Some people were able to send over a 100 items in a month last year, but if I exclude postcards, if I push it I think I could do 30-40 letters a month (perhaps 75 or so postcards and letters). As I write this, someone says they sent 243 items this month. I will concentrate more on quality than quantity.

I have been struggling to decide who to write to. There are messages from people on both of those sites saying that they are up for receiving nice post... and then there is my Postable account where people have left addresses... However, sometimes I think what is the point putting heart and soul in a letter to a complete stranger.... would I get a reply....... did I just waste my time....? Only time will tell. I'm logging off now to start a reply I would like to finsih off tomorrow for posting (6th Feb).

January Stats:

Out: 13 Letters; 8 Postcards; 7 other flat mail items; 1 small packet (more post than last year)
In: 20 Letters; 1 Postcard; 11 Christmas Cards; 4 other flat mail items; 1 small packet. (not as much post as last year).

February is Lettermo/InCoWriMo

February being the shortest month, seems to be home to at least two postal projects - Lettermo (short for A Month of Letters Challenge) and InCoWriMo (short for International Correspondence Writing Month, a take on NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month). The idea is to send an item of post every postal day in the case of the former, and for the latter, to write a letter (or postcard or card) every day in February. 

This is the 3rd year for Lettermo and last year, little achievements were introduced (e.g. sending something internationally, sending an old-style type of letter (think fountain pens and wax seals), and for sending some post even if you can't complete the full challenge). A great idea. 

I think I will be able to complete both challenges, all being well. I think it would be nice to broaden the range of people I write to. 

I think both these projects are great ideas to bring new people into the happy world of snail mail, and the joy of holding words of wisdom & thought from all around the world. 

The Round Robin annual letter

I received my first two on returning home from the festive period away visiting family. One was from someone I hadn't heard from in months.... and she had lots and lots to say (with reasons why she was unable to reply earlier) but did scribble neatly something meant specifially for me, and the other was from someone who had corresponded recently. The latter was more of a letter from my penpal's family, and I think it may have been written by the partner of my penpal.

My mother receives round robins from a family friend who did live in the same street but moved overseas. She has received these for the last 20+ years, and so we've been annually updated about about their lives.

While this type of letter, is good for those who do not correspond very often and the same words are meant to be sent to many people, it is not really the best form of letter for regular (well, annually is regular) more frequent correspondence. I haven't sent, I don't think, this form of letter as I believe in tailoring my correspondence to the recipient. Having said that, I do not object to receiving this type of correspondence, if, like the first one mentioned, can add on a bit just for me (the recipient).

Festive post

I hope everyone has had a good festive period so I wish you all the best for 2014 and beyond.

I wasn't in much of a letterwriting mood in December, plus I was away over the festive period so December's stats may not be totally accurate (those received while I was away will be included in this month's stats to be published in February).

Letters - sent 7, received 6
Christmas cards (sent/received on their own) - sent 24, received 13

I came home to 7 Christmas cards on their own, 2 notes included with Christmas cards, and 8 letters (some included with cards). Unfortunately, some envelopes were a little bit damp, but the contents are ok (dried out nicely).

Season to be jolly

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!

 I haven't written any Postcrossing postcards for a while. Maybe I'll send some out this week, although for some destinations, it would probably by too late to arrive before Christmas. I haven't got any festive postcards - I haven't seen them in the shops here although a certain online shop does (but the only postcards I've ordered from them have been Pixar ones).



November stats:
Letters - out 13, in 8
Postcards - in 23
Other - in 6