Continuing with my theme of writing letters back. This week I received a letter from CAMBODIA! Yes, from a long way away. It smelt of Cambodia I think. I imagined a lot of jungle. And my friend Paul struggling with a machete through it in order to pass the letter to a waiting messenger boy who would then run to Pnomh Penh, pausing to leap rivers and fight tigers in order to post it to me. That's because Paul told me there was only one post-box in Cambodia. Only one! I was shocked.
Anywho, I wrote back with a suitable sense of urgency because Paul is coing back to England at the end of the month, and I wanted the letter to arrive in time. I never used to get actual letters in the post, so it is very exciting to get them now. I also got a thank you letter from my friend who had a birthday recently. That was lovely. But I felt a bit bad, as I didn't do them for my birthday :( and now it's a month on ... maybe Unbirthday thank you letter? Would that work? Unthank you letters? Hmmmm ... I think that concept needs some further thought.
Another important thing I did this week was to tody my room. This relates to letters as I found all the presents I've collected to send to people and then lost under detritus and washing. Now I have a pile of packages that are waiting for accompanying letters and money for posting!
However, what I am excited for is when my friend RockSalt gets Foodie Penpals up and running in the UK (it only is in the US and Canada at the moment). I well like snacks and I like post. To be fair, who doesn't like snacks and post? If you'd like to be part of it then drop RockSalt an email. If you're lucky, you might even get to be my partner!
Saturday, 3 March 2012
Thursday, 1 March 2012
Letter 20
"By return of post" - what an amazing phrase! I love it when they say it in period dramas ... Definite images of a bygone era. Luckily this week I had a letter written to me, to which I could reply. It was very exciting, because A) it was a birthday letter (but not at all like the Ted Hughes poetry volume) B) I had something to write about this week.
However, before I get on to that, I must say that all in all it was an amazing week for Post. I won a couple of competitions, and therefore got sent prizes! Thank you very much to all the senders!
Overall, I would say I was a very lucky lady. Then I got a super letter from a friend a first wrote to after Christmas. I love her letters and I saved it to have with a coffee when I was out. I then went out for time to myself to write back.
That was pretty exciting as I've not managed to set the writing time aside as much as I wanted to. I really do enjoy it. Often when you're talking and watching things you're not really taking it in, but I guess because letters are rarer now, you do digest what's said. A chance remark can give you loads of different ideas. But I am trying. I went for a massage after my letter writing session. And I bought some Health Foods. One was dark chocolate rice cakes - how healthy is that? Um, not that much?
However, before I get on to that, I must say that all in all it was an amazing week for Post. I won a couple of competitions, and therefore got sent prizes! Thank you very much to all the senders!
- My friend, the amazing RockSalt, let me enter a competition to win some Kung Fu Panda Cupcake Cases. I love Kung Fu Panda - the first film got me through some sad times. Also KungFu alliterates with Kidney and I think Kidney cupcakes are the way forward.
- There's an amzing company in Bristol called Lahloo who sell the best teas in England. They are much better than Imperial Teas of Lincoln, for example. I won their valentines day recipe competition (a recipe for veal heart) and won some tea and macaroons. Annoyingly, I've put the macaroons in a "safe place" - it's safe from everyone, including me :( But in all seriousness they are a lovely company, super friendly, super ethical and their products are amazing. Please put some things from their website on your wish list because they're grrrrrrrrrrrreat. I can recommend personally the Smoky Tea, the White Rose, the Sencha, the Sobacha and the Chamomile! So get drinking!
- I do another 'interest' where I made the decision to eat only offal for a year. It's an ethical decision and you can read about it here. I got some blood online recently and for Pancake Day made blood pancakes and wrote about it on said blog and when I told them they sent me some black pudding skins and seasoning for free! They are called Tong Master and will cater to all your sausage requirements! I like the fact that it's run by someone who's been a butcher for over forty years.
Overall, I would say I was a very lucky lady. Then I got a super letter from a friend a first wrote to after Christmas. I love her letters and I saved it to have with a coffee when I was out. I then went out for time to myself to write back.
That was pretty exciting as I've not managed to set the writing time aside as much as I wanted to. I really do enjoy it. Often when you're talking and watching things you're not really taking it in, but I guess because letters are rarer now, you do digest what's said. A chance remark can give you loads of different ideas. But I am trying. I went for a massage after my letter writing session. And I bought some Health Foods. One was dark chocolate rice cakes - how healthy is that? Um, not that much?
Wednesday, 22 February 2012
Letter 19
Last week I was clearly disheartened about the writing of the letters. This week I wrote a letter that I don't really feel like I should discuss. Someone I know is poorly and I wanted to write a letter to take their mind (a little) off how shit hospitals are. I hope I succeeded. I used all the skills I taught myself with the 12 Days of Love Letter Writing Project. That's all I really want to say. I did use very brightly coloured paper too.
These are the letter-writing related birthday gifts I got. Aren't they awesome? I am now the Queen of ALL THE STAMPS and will never run out. I had also had my eye on that Paperchase letter-writing pack for a few months, kept picking it up and then putting it down again with a sigh of "oh I can't afford it really". So I'm very glad I got it. I'm also going to experiment and see if the tiny cards will travel with Royal Mail. Maybe they'll get their own Tiny Postman. Like the Jolly Postman when he goes up the beanstalk? Perhaps all the postcards and letter-writing is in fact my Auntie Pam's fault for buying me that book when I was three.
Letter 18
I was determined last week, to get back to taking some time out and sitting down and writing to someone. I set my mind to visit the 52 Weeks of Mail page and write a letter to the first address I found. That address was a school that was collecting USA States postcards. They weren't really looking for letters. Or for things from the UK. But since the address was there, and I had a new Yorkshire card, I figured there was some sort cosmic meeting there.
A postcard, is not a letter, however. So who to write to? I know I've got a lot of family and friends, and NOW I can think of millions of people to write to, but at that time, my mind was a blank. SO I turned to my old trusty Postcrossing cards.
I don't do it, but I think if people send you a card with their address on, they are hoping for a return, so I think it's fair game to send them something. So Imran Siddique in Pakistan hopefully will soon receive my letter thanking him for the beautiful card he sent me, introducing myself and really talking quite large amounts of rubbish. This was definitely a letter for the sake of writing letters, not a letter to a person with a purpose. Does that make it a bad letter? Is any letter bad? (Apart from Bills, they are bad!)
To be honest, I don't really mind. I was having a letter writers block week, and the worst that can happen is that it will be read, and binned. I hope not, but likewise I don't think it will have been a massive illumination. I just needed to write a letter. So that perhaps means that this project is starting lose its way if I'm sending unsolicited letters to strangers ... I hope not!
Thursday, 9 February 2012
Letter 17
Every time we see a post-box I feel the need to comment to my boyfriend in a urrr-urrr voice "That's a nice postbox" or "ooh I didn't know there was one There". Post offices cause higher levels of excitement, as I will WALK RIGHT PAST ONE when I move in with him in the summer. My bus stop is about 10m shy of one but often when playing the when-will-the-bus-come game, that 10m is integral to the win/lose catchthebus/dropthebus continuum.
I was going to say that Letter 17 week was a fail week, but then I sat and thought about it. I sent mail. I sent Postcrossing. I SENT BIRTHDAY CARDS. I didn't sit and right a full letter, but I feel that posting and sending things has become quite day-to-day for me. And that is a really good thing. Last week was also especially busy (what with having food poisoning, then my birthday and all) so I feel, to be honest, pretty smug that despite all that I did quite a lot of posting.
It's good when resolutions that you adopt become part of everyday life. That also showed in my birthday presents, where I got some ace paper and SOME STAMPS! Excellent presents indeed.
If you believe in things happening for a reason, you may see some links in this. Last week I didn't right a well long missive. Last week I found a novel that I'd been reading about communications sent in a script in China that only women could read, that had been lost for months. The book is called Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and one thing I like is how it talks about the elegance of the written word, and how writing to each other cements closeness in a different way to other ways of expressing yourself. (That old ruby I hear you cry!)
I lost and I found, what should we think about that? Other than I'm superbusy and careless with possessions I mean ...
I was going to say that Letter 17 week was a fail week, but then I sat and thought about it. I sent mail. I sent Postcrossing. I SENT BIRTHDAY CARDS. I didn't sit and right a full letter, but I feel that posting and sending things has become quite day-to-day for me. And that is a really good thing. Last week was also especially busy (what with having food poisoning, then my birthday and all) so I feel, to be honest, pretty smug that despite all that I did quite a lot of posting.
It's good when resolutions that you adopt become part of everyday life. That also showed in my birthday presents, where I got some ace paper and SOME STAMPS! Excellent presents indeed.
If you believe in things happening for a reason, you may see some links in this. Last week I didn't right a well long missive. Last week I found a novel that I'd been reading about communications sent in a script in China that only women could read, that had been lost for months. The book is called Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and one thing I like is how it talks about the elegance of the written word, and how writing to each other cements closeness in a different way to other ways of expressing yourself. (That old ruby I hear you cry!)
I lost and I found, what should we think about that? Other than I'm superbusy and careless with possessions I mean ...
Wednesday, 1 February 2012
Letter 16
This week, two things occurred. One, I almost got to letter saturation level. Two, I ran out of stamp money.
Never fear, however, I managed to pull a letter out of the bag. Well, actually, no, I wrote a short note to be posted, updating a relative on what I got with my Christmas money. A thank you note extension if you will. Really, people have sent longer texts. But this is on a card with an envelope and everything. Not very long though. Who said letters had to be long? Certainly some of my Mitford Sisters letters (yes, I am still reading that) are very short, but then some of them wrote pretty much daily. Right glad am I that it's not 365 Days of Mail!
The second of the failings was a monetary one. Stamps cost money, and they add up. I ran out of stamps and money in my purse. There are four kinds of stamp I regularly use:
The stampless situation will soon be rectified, but I do now have a backlog of postcards to send, letters to post and a package as well. It adds up to a minimum spend of £7.63. The lesson I ought to be learning is to choose a less expensive hobby. The lesson I'm really learning is to put stamps above food on any shopping list. Or to get a contact at the Royal Mail. Do you think the Queen gets free stamps?
Never fear, however, I managed to pull a letter out of the bag. Well, actually, no, I wrote a short note to be posted, updating a relative on what I got with my Christmas money. A thank you note extension if you will. Really, people have sent longer texts. But this is on a card with an envelope and everything. Not very long though. Who said letters had to be long? Certainly some of my Mitford Sisters letters (yes, I am still reading that) are very short, but then some of them wrote pretty much daily. Right glad am I that it's not 365 Days of Mail!
The second of the failings was a monetary one. Stamps cost money, and they add up. I ran out of stamps and money in my purse. There are four kinds of stamp I regularly use:
- Worldwide postcard (less than 20g in weight) - 76p
- European letter/postcard (less than 60g) - 68p
- English first class - 46p
- English second class 36p
The stampless situation will soon be rectified, but I do now have a backlog of postcards to send, letters to post and a package as well. It adds up to a minimum spend of £7.63. The lesson I ought to be learning is to choose a less expensive hobby. The lesson I'm really learning is to put stamps above food on any shopping list. Or to get a contact at the Royal Mail. Do you think the Queen gets free stamps?
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Letter 15
This week was the turn of writing to somone not quite so familiar/unfamiliar as myself. A few years ago I set myself the task of remembering everyone's birthday and sending them a card. I failed after February, but with that haunting me like a tiny wimpy ghost, I wrote to a friend I've not seen for a while, who has just had a birthday. Enough clues though!
What struck me with this writings is the details that you choose to put in whether consciously or unconsciously. I'm rubbish at thinking about what people would actually like to know, so jabber about stuff so it mostly becomes a "did you know I did this?" list. My list included tuba, ape language and colonic irrigation. Make of that what you will ...
In a recent letter exchange with a friend, we discussed how sometimes when you write to people you can feel much closer to them than you do if you see them everyday locally. I don't think that sense of written closeness goes away, and like old slippers, friends slip into old jokes.
I've talked before about intensity in war letters. A while ago I read Bomber Boys which quotes a couple of letters from one bomber crew member to his girl. He'd met her once at a dance and then they wrote, then they met and he proposed. She declined. The lady in question then spoke about how she felt like a crutch to him and fancied someone else, but couldn't not reply. I gave my copy away else I'd tell you the pages to look at. The point I'm trying to question is whether the relationships you create with the written word feel more real than they are. Does distance make you closer? (I understand my unrequited WW2 love story is perhaps not the best starting point.) Nowadays - how old does that sound - I guess we have a much greater reliance on the written word than we realise. How many people text rather than phone? Those competitions that Stephen Fry judges about the most beautiful tweet.
Hidden behind new technology, we're all just writing letters all the time.
What struck me with this writings is the details that you choose to put in whether consciously or unconsciously. I'm rubbish at thinking about what people would actually like to know, so jabber about stuff so it mostly becomes a "did you know I did this?" list. My list included tuba, ape language and colonic irrigation. Make of that what you will ...
In a recent letter exchange with a friend, we discussed how sometimes when you write to people you can feel much closer to them than you do if you see them everyday locally. I don't think that sense of written closeness goes away, and like old slippers, friends slip into old jokes.
I've talked before about intensity in war letters. A while ago I read Bomber Boys which quotes a couple of letters from one bomber crew member to his girl. He'd met her once at a dance and then they wrote, then they met and he proposed. She declined. The lady in question then spoke about how she felt like a crutch to him and fancied someone else, but couldn't not reply. I gave my copy away else I'd tell you the pages to look at. The point I'm trying to question is whether the relationships you create with the written word feel more real than they are. Does distance make you closer? (I understand my unrequited WW2 love story is perhaps not the best starting point.) Nowadays - how old does that sound - I guess we have a much greater reliance on the written word than we realise. How many people text rather than phone? Those competitions that Stephen Fry judges about the most beautiful tweet.
Hidden behind new technology, we're all just writing letters all the time.
Tuesday, 17 January 2012
Letter 14
This week, I wrote a letter to myself.
The people at More Love Letters are creating a love letter time capsule to yourself. You write off with your letter to you, enclose a stamp and then in a year's time it will wing it's way back to you. So you can judge the waffle for yourself.
Seriously, though, it was really interesting to sit and think about what encouragement I wanted to give back to myself. This year I am going to achieve a lot. I feel excited and focused, but ambitions can not succeed and I know that I tend to beat myself up if I don't manage all the things I strive for. So hopefully next year, a bit of condolence from me, won't be necessary - but if it is it's there.
It's also exciting to think about all the other things I'm doing: my offal eating, this letter writing, my numismatics, my herbal studies, my running, my tuba playing. Hopefully I'll realise all my ambitions with all these different things. It was really good to look ahead and think, yes, I'm on my way. Well I hope so.
The guess to take away is that it's good to take some time and really think about what you want to achieve. And also to think about how it's OK if all those tings don't happen. You are still special and wonderful, just very very busy.
The people at More Love Letters are creating a love letter time capsule to yourself. You write off with your letter to you, enclose a stamp and then in a year's time it will wing it's way back to you. So you can judge the waffle for yourself.
Seriously, though, it was really interesting to sit and think about what encouragement I wanted to give back to myself. This year I am going to achieve a lot. I feel excited and focused, but ambitions can not succeed and I know that I tend to beat myself up if I don't manage all the things I strive for. So hopefully next year, a bit of condolence from me, won't be necessary - but if it is it's there.
It's also exciting to think about all the other things I'm doing: my offal eating, this letter writing, my numismatics, my herbal studies, my running, my tuba playing. Hopefully I'll realise all my ambitions with all these different things. It was really good to look ahead and think, yes, I'm on my way. Well I hope so.
The guess to take away is that it's good to take some time and really think about what you want to achieve. And also to think about how it's OK if all those tings don't happen. You are still special and wonderful, just very very busy.
Saturday, 7 January 2012
Letter 13
This week I have mostly been writing ... THANK YOU LETTERS!
I had a fantastic day on Monday, which I took (in my mind) as a DAY OFF. So I ensconced myself with a pot of Wild Rose tea off of Lahloo, some Tunnocks snacks (och aye) and my lovely Emma Bridgewater spotty cup! I used a variety of notepapers and notecards and envelopes and pens and stickers and stamps. I indulged myself with every stationary vice known to man.
I also wrote to all the people who gave me lovely Christmas presents, caught them up with what's been going on in the past year and tried to make future plans to see people that I love. It was a brilliant way to spend a day, really consolidating relationships and giving out a lot of positive energy through writing. Last year I sent photos with all of my thank you letters, but I wasn't that organised this year for everyone. Also I have spent so much money of postage this year I feel like I'm keeping Royal Mail afloat.
I also used the day to catch up with things I promised to send in the post and not managed. I sent some insomnia herbal remedies to ladies I know, a bit of the old Postcrossing and a couple of letters to do with my work at Neals Yard. Unfortunately I've now used up all my letter paper with herbs on. Oh, what shall I do now? Luckily I have some suitable cards with roses on.
I love taking the time out to say thank you for people, but on Monday I felt like I was the lucky one. It was great to lollygag around in my pyjamas drink tea, eat biscuits and write to all the people. However, now I've done my thank you letters, Christmas is officially over ...
Luckily my birthday is soon - top gift tip: STAMPS!
I also wrote to all the people who gave me lovely Christmas presents, caught them up with what's been going on in the past year and tried to make future plans to see people that I love. It was a brilliant way to spend a day, really consolidating relationships and giving out a lot of positive energy through writing. Last year I sent photos with all of my thank you letters, but I wasn't that organised this year for everyone. Also I have spent so much money of postage this year I feel like I'm keeping Royal Mail afloat.
I love taking the time out to say thank you for people, but on Monday I felt like I was the lucky one. It was great to lollygag around in my pyjamas drink tea, eat biscuits and write to all the people. However, now I've done my thank you letters, Christmas is officially over ...
Luckily my birthday is soon - top gift tip: STAMPS!
Monday, 2 January 2012
Letter 12
Post-Christmas, driving, working, Dazmas, meant that again the letter writing time slipped through my fingers. Sunday arrived and I didn't even have a thought of anyone to write to. However, one of my Postcrossing cards had a return address on, so I though "ah-ha FATE" and spent a lovely hour writing to a person called Christina from Dresden, Germany.
I enjoyed the return of writing to a stranger. I explained about the 52 Weeks project and talked about Christmas and New Year. I find that by writing about things that have happened to me, I can definitely remember them better. I wish I was, but know I am not, a human google. Nothing, however, would make me forget the bed and breakfast we stayed in on New Year's Eve - Myrtle Grove - the lady who ran it was interesting, but her dog did wee in front of us at breakfast, but she gave us a blackcurrant bush as an apology. Who can say fairer than that? I sent Christina the card, just in case she'd like to stay in Hebden Bridge one day. I also taught her the phrase "mad as a box of frogs".
This coming week, my letters are mostly going to be thank you letters - I got amazing Christmas presents. I'm going to try and make time to write a special letter too.
Lately, as a background to all the letter-writing, I've been reading two very different collections of letters. The first I found at my Mum's house on Christmas Day is called Letters from Two World Wars (you can buy it here) and aims to record all the different attitudes to war. I studied war poetry at A-Level and so many of these letters are just as affecting. I hope they are used to teach literature and history in schools now!
One that is hearbreakingly beautiful* goes:
"... when we marched done it [the thunderstorm] cleared away for a warm still summer night; still that, except for the sniper's rifles, and the rattle of machine guns ...a sweet smell of wet earth and wet grass after the rain, and since I could not sleep I wandered out among the ghostly cherry trees all in white and watched the ghostly star-shells falling north and south ... a nightingale began to sing ... it was so strange to stand there and listen, for the song seemed to come even more clearly and sweetly in the quiet intervals between the bursts of firing ... you felt that the nightingale's song were the only real thing which would remain when all the rest was long past and forgotten. It is such an old song too ... I stood there and thought of all the men and women who had listened to that song, just as ... after Tom was killed I found myself thinking perpetually of all the men who had been killed in battle - Hector and Achilles and all the heroes long ago, who were once so strong and active and are now so quiet. Gradually the night wore on, until the day began to break, and I could see clearly the daisies and buttercups in the long grass about my feet. Then I gathered my platoon together, and marched back past the silent farms to our billets. There was a beautiful sunrise and I went to sleep content ..."
I'll wrote about some more at a later date. Others are not as haunting, but no less affecting. The other collection I am reading is The Mitfords: Letters between Six Sisters (you can buy it here), but I'll leave discussion of that for another post ...
Happy New Year!
*p.28, written 5th May 1915 by Second Lieutenant A. D. Gillespie
I enjoyed the return of writing to a stranger. I explained about the 52 Weeks project and talked about Christmas and New Year. I find that by writing about things that have happened to me, I can definitely remember them better. I wish I was, but know I am not, a human google. Nothing, however, would make me forget the bed and breakfast we stayed in on New Year's Eve - Myrtle Grove - the lady who ran it was interesting, but her dog did wee in front of us at breakfast, but she gave us a blackcurrant bush as an apology. Who can say fairer than that? I sent Christina the card, just in case she'd like to stay in Hebden Bridge one day. I also taught her the phrase "mad as a box of frogs".
This coming week, my letters are mostly going to be thank you letters - I got amazing Christmas presents. I'm going to try and make time to write a special letter too.
Lately, as a background to all the letter-writing, I've been reading two very different collections of letters. The first I found at my Mum's house on Christmas Day is called Letters from Two World Wars (you can buy it here) and aims to record all the different attitudes to war. I studied war poetry at A-Level and so many of these letters are just as affecting. I hope they are used to teach literature and history in schools now!
One that is hearbreakingly beautiful* goes:
"... when we marched done it [the thunderstorm] cleared away for a warm still summer night; still that, except for the sniper's rifles, and the rattle of machine guns ...a sweet smell of wet earth and wet grass after the rain, and since I could not sleep I wandered out among the ghostly cherry trees all in white and watched the ghostly star-shells falling north and south ... a nightingale began to sing ... it was so strange to stand there and listen, for the song seemed to come even more clearly and sweetly in the quiet intervals between the bursts of firing ... you felt that the nightingale's song were the only real thing which would remain when all the rest was long past and forgotten. It is such an old song too ... I stood there and thought of all the men and women who had listened to that song, just as ... after Tom was killed I found myself thinking perpetually of all the men who had been killed in battle - Hector and Achilles and all the heroes long ago, who were once so strong and active and are now so quiet. Gradually the night wore on, until the day began to break, and I could see clearly the daisies and buttercups in the long grass about my feet. Then I gathered my platoon together, and marched back past the silent farms to our billets. There was a beautiful sunrise and I went to sleep content ..."
I'll wrote about some more at a later date. Others are not as haunting, but no less affecting. The other collection I am reading is The Mitfords: Letters between Six Sisters (you can buy it here), but I'll leave discussion of that for another post ...
Happy New Year!
*p.28, written 5th May 1915 by Second Lieutenant A. D. Gillespie
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)