Happy Monday

Post arrived early today, just one letter. I haven't opened it yet, as I'm waiting for my cup of tea to brew. I also can't drink tea while it is boiling hot.

Those Doll stamps look good, but they do take a lot of room up on the envelope.

While on large sized stamps, Royal Mail have issued some large stamps recently. This issue marks the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta - Foundation of Liberty. The stamp I used here has a section of the Bill of Rights, 1689.  

Most of the special / commemorative issues Royal Mail produce are on the large size, bigger than the Machin stamps, however, the stamps issued for the 175th anniversary of the Penny Black and Twopenny Blue, are small. I did however have to order online from Royal Mail for these stamps issued in a miniature sheet. The post office I now buy the commemorative stamps hadn't been sent any of this issue.
Norvic Philatelics blog asks: Are modern British commemorative stamps 'generally available' ? For the Penny Black commemoration - NO, but for the other issues, I no longer have trouble.

Poor postbox

Royal Mail in their wisdom, have decided to put plasticky plaques on postboxes depicting a stamp associated with that location. 

 This one features Llandudno Pier (from a miniature sheet for the Piers, Proms and Pavilions issue marking seaside architecture). This postbox is on the land side end of the pier.

 It looks a bit shoddily attached, reminding me of ill-fitting blouses with the gaps between the buttons gaping.

The postbox is to the left of the blue building. The pier stretches far to the right.

Some pics

One of my homemade seals. Upside down on the envelope... 

 I had gotten bored(!) one evening and made lots of envelopes.

A letter for me arrived wrapped in this paper. I do like my cups of tea, and flowers.

A very kind correspondent sent some used stamps for my son. I like the value given for the letter (opinion!)

Very naughty having not written a letter for almost a week.

Title says it all! Very naughty indeed, even though I have a pile building up for replying to... 

Discussions....

Recent letters I have received have mentioned the lack of places to discuss penpalling and correspondence matters on the web. There may be threads or small sections on various other hobby boards to find penpals, such as InCoWriMo board over on the Fountain Pen Geeks (fpgeeks) forum, or Pen-friendship/Penpals board over on the Postcrossing forum.

The former already has boards to discuss and review inks, fountain pens, and paper. However, I don't think there has been any discussion on cute Diddl or other pictured / patterned letter writing paper / pads. I find the Diddl paper quite fountain pen friendly. 

What about other places? There are groups on Facebook. Have you ever tried finding old threads, or topics you are interested in on a Facebook group? What if you take a break, even if it is only a week or so, it is difficult to see what you've missed.

What about the forum over at Interpals? Well, I have never found a long-lasting reliable penfriend there. Instead, I've had people with explicit profile pictures post messages to my profile, some marriage proposals, and comments/messages from people who have not actually read properly my profile. As for the forum, there doesn't seem to actually be a specific section for discussing letters and associated topics.

Surely there must be other places? Well, yes. One I did join last year but have had no success with is aimed mainly for females only (judging by the site's name), and although there are boards for specific age groups, the one for the oldies starts at 30!

I haven't looked at the number of female and male correspondents I have...

Another correspondence project has a forum but outside the time of the project, the site is not maintained and administered. I've just been over to check what has been happening and there have been lots of spam accounts opened, yet again. Letters are for life, not just for February.

So, where does that leave us? I don't know. Is there appetite for a forum with sections where you can discuss correspondence matter, maybe find new people to write to, et cetera? Maybe I should start my own?

Proof of concept

Today, I posted 3 letters to different corners of the world. One of the envelopes is sealed with wax (below). 

Last year, I had the idea of making my own seals. I bought some modelling stuff and made this. I had left it to dry and forgot about it. I found it last night and thought I would try it on a letter to the US. I had surfed online for ideas about them and one suggested using an oil to prevent the wax from sticking. I lightly covered this with vegetable oil and took the plunge. OK, one of the petals stuck but otherwise, it looks to have turned out rather well. I hope it arrives safely.

Also on the subject of wax, I usually use a ballpoint pen for fear of the address running in the rain if I use a fountain pen. Sometimes I protected the address with sticky tape. A couple of correspondents have suggested/used candle (not lit) rubbed over the address - looks like it works nicely. 

Cheerful post.

 Today, I came home to 2 letters. I just love these stamps used for postage. One of the letters was sealed with wax, and came from a correspondent who has used other seals on letters to me.

The bottom seal is the latest one I have received. Which seal is your favourite out of these?

Earlier in the week, I received this letter also with fab stamps. I hope to reply by May the Fourth!

I have finished writing a reply to this letter, and will post it tomorrow. I love the Valentine's stamp.

The letter I replied to had this little pretty drawing in. My talents for drawing are limited!

I celebrated my birthday this month and my mother used this stamp on her card to me. Eastbourne is somewhere I have visited.

While on the subject of places visited being on stamps, I didn't realise Kedlestone Hall was on a stamp. I went there earlier in the year and only just discovered I had the stamp in my for-postage collection.