Loving letters
According to the Handwritten Letter Appreciation Society, there’s a certain mystery and romance about postboxes.
The Society believe that a handwritten letter is ‘one of the loveliest, most personal things, anyone can receive,’ with the sending of letters ‘equally (if not slightly more so) as lovely as the receiving.’
Today, we’re sharing one member’s blog about her love of postboxes.
‘Postboxes. They act like portals, don’t they? I mean clearly, they don’t, it’s a postal worker who comes and collects my letters each afternoon and, in fact, I see the big trucks and vans driving off to the Bournemouth depot on a regular basis. But as I don’t sit and watch the postbox physically being emptied (I’m not that weird), it always feels like magic that my letters to all over the country and beyond get delivered pretty much by the very next day.
‘I have a new (to me) postbox that I’ve been frequenting because of a new job. I’ve even been carrying my letters in the car over 15 miles to put them in it because it really appeals. I’ve started wondering what the postman thinks about all these wax-sealed parchment paper affairs or crazy child-like stickered envelopes suddenly turning up on their patch. It feels like something out of a novel.
‘My new drive to work takes me past Corfe Castle twice a day, in all her ruin and beauty, along now busy, but still ancient highways that cross the heathland, and past earth-walled towns and flood plains.
‘The last little bit goes down a winding road over a sweet humpback bridge and past an old Post Office guesthouse (now just a house) with its original GR postbox outside. It’s my new muse. I like that it’s off the beaten track. I like the thought of the postman, once perhaps often disappointed at an empty collection run, now finding letters to Oxford, Australia, Poland, Lincolnshire, Cornwall, ones to Edward Fox and the Yorkshire Shepherdess, and a few postcards every now and then in there. I do hope it’s the same person each time. I feel some connection with a stranger and that I’ve put my trust in them wholeheartedly to send my wafflings around the world.
‘I like to think maybe they wake in the morning and in that half-light of coming round, they ponder what might be waiting for them later in the day. They will be disappointed on occasions because I’m only at the job four days a week, but weirdly, it’s a motivator for sending out more letters next time I pass.
‘Maybe there are other people doing the same for the same postbox that I don’t know about. And I still do use the busier ones in town, but my little silly romantic venture made me want to encourage you all to find a lost and lonely postbox out in the sticks and fill it with magic. Of course, by magic, I mean handwritten letters.’
Send a letter to keep connected
Are you missing spending time with your friends? Even your colleagues? Stay in touch with those you can’t see at the moment and put a smile on someone’s face by sending them a personal letter.
Take some time out and put your pen to paper to show you’re thinking of someone. With the written word, you can take your time and send a personal and sincere message – that can be kept forever as a memory of how much you care.
Click here to download one of letter writing templates. You could even learn how to make a postcard with our easy how-to video.
