Yet Another Cycling Forum

Off Topic => The Pub => Arts and Entertainment => Topic started by: Wowbagger on 01 November, 2020, 01:19:31 am

Title: Writing letters
Post by: Wowbagger on 01 November, 2020, 01:19:31 am
Does anyone else do this? I mean by using a proper fountain pen, decent quality paper etc? Given that communication now is so very easy using immediate electronic means, I consider handwriting/letter-writing is now an art form, according to the Wildean definition of art.

I've just written a real letter to my daughter in Melbourne, whose birthday it will be in 10 days' time. Ironically, I used the Post Office website to print an address label, rather than buy stamps, which would involve going to a post office. We bunged the letter and a card in an envelope and spent £2.55 to get it there.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: TheLurker on 01 November, 2020, 07:53:38 am
Quote from: Wowbagger
Does anyone else do this? I mean by using a proper fountain pen, decent quality paper etc?
Yes, but not often. 
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: tatanab on 01 November, 2020, 08:26:34 am
Very rarely, and yes to the fountain pen.

On behalf of a club, I wanted to thank a small business.  I did this by hand written letter on club headed notepaper.  I felt it was much better than an email for that purpose.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Jurek on 01 November, 2020, 08:34:59 am
Not so much letters, but birthday cards I write using a fountain pen.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: T42 on 01 November, 2020, 08:52:25 am
Used to enjoy writing and have a small collection of fountain pens, but diabetes and/or cycling has done for my fine finger control and my writing has gone to hell.  These days I hardly even know what my signature is going to look like before signing something.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Ham on 01 November, 2020, 10:06:45 am
Yes. I just haven't had cause to for quite some time.

Somewhere in the haphazard agglomeration of stuff that is an attic, there is the evidence of two extended correspondence events, in the shape of several hundred letters received. I've just wished the author of one set a happy birthday by email, 30 years after the last letter.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: quixoticgeek on 01 November, 2020, 11:07:33 am

Yes to letters, no to fountain pen.

I also do postcrossing, as it's a nice way of getting post that isn't a bloody bill...

J
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: orienteer on 01 November, 2020, 11:17:32 am
Problem is that fountain pens tend to gum up through infrequent use.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Jurek on 01 November, 2020, 12:20:59 pm
I've a Mont Blanc that I'd not used for at least 20 years.
I rang the Mont Blanc shop to book it in for a service. When I told the guy why I wanted it serviced, he said 'run it under warm water'.
I did, and it has been working fine ever since.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Nuncio on 01 November, 2020, 12:28:50 pm
Very rarely these days, and mostly with Christmas cards. My handwriting never used to be very good but now I have to take my time to make it legible. Nothing to do with arthritis or anything like that, just lack of practice.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Wowbagger on 01 November, 2020, 12:35:19 pm
I agree about lack of practice.

I realised yesterday that, although I have never consciously collected fountain pens, I have accumulated a fair few. I only recall buying two of them. Most of the rest are basic Parkers (there's one Sheaffer which I think used to belong to my dad and must be at least 50 years old) which probably found their way into my possession when pupils at the school I taught at from 1975-1981 left them in my classroom and they spent a long time in the drawer of my desk awaiting reclamation which never came. I left that school when it closed so we had to take everything with us as otherwise it would have just been dumped. Some of them I have no recollection of seeing before.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: ian on 02 November, 2020, 06:02:36 pm
Not for years, though I like the idea. I did use to write extensively to a girlfriend back in the day when she lived on another continent (we had email, but you know, love). That was back in the day you wrote on thin airmail paper (does that still exist?) and slapped a 'par avion' sticker on the front.

I remember having a pen friend when I was a kid though. That was awful. He lived in Australia and every day was exciting and featured kangaroos and alligators and I swear he had one boys-own adventure every week. I lived in the East Midlands and my best chance of wildlife excitement was seeing a rat jump in the canal by the sewage farm outlet. He'd send me a letter about his hot air balloon ride, all I had was that we'd watched 3-2-1 while eating chips. That was a short correspondence. Honestly, the fucker was going parachuting. What was I going to do with that? I once went on a day trip to Skegness and got sick because I ate a brussel sprout (entirely true – it shot out like a rocket and hit my mum in the face).
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 02 November, 2020, 06:37:22 pm
I wrote a letter today! Far from art albeit handwritten, it was a note to explain why I was returning an item (correct item already received and I'm not sure they really expected me to return the wrong one).

Writing a letter just for the sake of it is something I haven't done for many years. Possibly not even this century, certainly not in the last, say, eight years. One of the great advantages of email is the address follows someone around through housemoves. Not sure when I last used a fountain pen either, though I think I do have one somewhere.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: campagman on 02 November, 2020, 07:02:00 pm
When I contacted my new found sibling sisters I wrote to them using a fountain pen. Seemed the right thing to do.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Wowbagger on 02 November, 2020, 08:07:50 pm
I wrote and posted three letters over the weekend:

one to my daughter in Melbourne, hopefully in time for her birthday on 10th November;

one to my brother just for the hell of it - he is co-executor of Aunt Phyllis's will and a form needed both signatures. I printed a first-class address label for the envelope but then Dez offered to deliver the letter by hand. That means I had spent 76p for nothing, so I used it anyway, on some pretty decent notepaper that I think my mother brought here hen she moved in in 2001;

one to my grand-daughter. I thought it would be a rather nice idea if she and I were to start a series of correspondence since she is now Year 6, is reading some pretty advanced stuff and I've offered to buy her a fountain pen and some decent quality notepaper for the purpose.

I have found that Waitrose will add books of stamps to our weekly shop so I bought 2x12 first class and 1x12 second. That constitutes about 30% if the grocery bill but it will save the somewhat soulless process of printing address forms and sticking them to envelopes.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Wowbagger on 16 November, 2020, 02:25:53 pm
I received my first letter form my grand-daughter this morning. Very welcome and she finished with "P.S. Please write back soon."
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Ruthie on 10 January, 2021, 12:44:13 pm
Only just come across this marvellous thread!

I’m very much a letter writer. The sensuous pleasure of a fountain pen nib over good-quality notepaper is such a joy. As is something landing on the mat and recognising a loved friend’s handwriting. Choosing ink colours, paper and envelopes, it’s an analogue delight.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Wowbagger on 10 January, 2021, 08:21:40 pm
Regarding some of the above posts, I received a very entertaining letter from the Melbourne daughter on New Year's Eve. The letter I had posted on 1st November arrived with her on 26th November and she replied by return. I posted another to her a few days ago, and put a smaller denomination of stamps on.

My grand-daughter seems to have had a flash of enthusiasm which has waned rather - not especially surprising in a 10-year-old.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Wowbagger on 10 January, 2021, 09:26:31 pm
I have, this evening, applied to join the Handwritten Letter Appreciation Society.

 “The Handwritten Letter Appreciation Society” to PO Box 9347, Swanage, Dorset, BH19 9BG.

http://thehandwrittenletterappreciationsociety.org/

Of course, I sent a cheque.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Ruthie on 10 January, 2021, 09:37:51 pm
I always send handwritten letters to my spiritual director. He got a thingy from his wife, that enables him to hand write on his tablet. He sends the resulting letter to me - via email.

Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 10 January, 2021, 09:56:43 pm
My grand-daughter seems to have had a flash of enthusiasm which has waned rather - not especially surprising in a 10-year-old.
I used to hate writing letters when I was that age – but once I'd got started on an individual letter and got beyond "Thank you for the xyz", I used to get really into making the letter as interesting, entertaining and news-filled (for a ten-year old's perspective) as I could. They went on for pages and pages! What my elderly aunts ect ect thought of them I'm not sure...

I always send handwritten letters to my spiritual director. He got a thingy from his wife, that enables him to hand write on his tablet. He sends the resulting letter to me - via email.
Interesting idea. How does the experience for you as the recipient compare to receiving a letter on paper?
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Ruthie on 10 January, 2021, 10:19:25 pm
My grand-daughter seems to have had a flash of enthusiasm which has waned rather - not especially surprising in a 10-year-old.
I used to hate writing letters when I was that age – but once I'd got started on an individual letter and got beyond "Thank you for the xyz", I used to get really into making the letter as interesting, entertaining and news-filled (for a ten-year old's perspective) as I could. They went on for pages and pages! What my elderly aunts ect ect thought of them I'm not sure...

I always send handwritten letters to my spiritual director. He got a thingy from his wife, that enables him to hand write on his tablet. He sends the resulting letter to me - via email.
Interesting idea. How does the experience for you as the recipient compare to receiving a letter on paper?

Well, it’s quicker. But I would much prefer a paper letter. You don’t accidentally come across an old email in the back of a drawer. Or a bundle of old emails tied together with ribbon. See also: paper photos.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Jaded on 10 January, 2021, 11:26:49 pm
In the distant past we wrote letters (some of which would have arrived the same day!) We took photographs that required planning. Getting family members together, writing down who they were etc.

Then we got busy with mass production. We all too photos, the we still have. We still wrote letters, though. Latelry some were faxed (lot gone - it fades...)

Digital happened, and the number of photos went exponential. The staying power of each photo went in the opposite way. Only more so. Since the turn of the century precious little of what we have 'created' will be found in the back of a drawer. It just won't be found at all. Stuck as 0 and 1 on a storage device that fails the test of time, in a format that similarly cannot be read.

I marvel at photos of our town taken in the 50s. Quaint street signs, motor cars, clothing, civilisation.
I've taken photos like this over the last 20 years, but they won't be cherished in 50 years time because they will be lost.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: MikeFromLFE on 11 January, 2021, 09:38:47 am


I marvel at photos of our town taken in the 50s. Quaint street signs, motor cars, clothing, civilisation.
I've taken photos like this over the last 20 years, but they won't be cherished in 50 years time because they will be lost.
This just one of the reasons why I've become fascinated with analogue / film photography, and (according to Mrs M) wasting film on mundane street scenes. We don't know what our grandchildren will find fascinating, but we can be pretty sure that they can do something with that drawer full of 35mm negatives (if my son doesn't put them on the bonfire!)
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 11 January, 2021, 09:54:16 am
My grand-daughter seems to have had a flash of enthusiasm which has waned rather - not especially surprising in a 10-year-old.
I used to hate writing letters when I was that age – but once I'd got started on an individual letter and got beyond "Thank you for the xyz", I used to get really into making the letter as interesting, entertaining and news-filled (for a ten-year old's perspective) as I could. They went on for pages and pages! What my elderly aunts ect ect thought of them I'm not sure...

I always send handwritten letters to my spiritual director. He got a thingy from his wife, that enables him to hand write on his tablet. He sends the resulting letter to me - via email.
Interesting idea. How does the experience for you as the recipient compare to receiving a letter on paper?

Well, it’s quicker. But I would much prefer a paper letter. You don’t accidentally come across an old email in the back of a drawer. Or a bundle of old emails tied together with ribbon. See also: paper photos.
But I'm wondering why you prefer a paper letter! My thoughts are that an email is almost entirely visual (some are occasionally aural too) whereas a paper letter is visual, tactile and olfactory. The paper has its own texture and smell, and as it ages they often increase (in a good way). OTOH an email can contain attachments and links, not only photos and documents but videos and links to websites and so on. Sure, it used to be common to include photos and cuttings with letters, but you can't include a movie, music or a website. Though if you want to send a hand drawing it's probably easier by letter.

On staying power of photos and finding letters in the back of drawers: About ten years ago I briefly used my sister's address for correspondence and during lockdown one she said she had a letter for me (not from her, it was a mobile phone contract I'd cancelled). So she came round to deliver it (suitably distanced!) and at the same time handed over a bundle of old letters and photos that had been hanging round in her attic for twenty-plus years. Mostly from people I'd met gallivanting round in New Zealand and half-forgotten about.

I don't entirely agree that printed photos have more staying power than digital ones though. They're less easy to ignore due to their physical presence but for the same reason it's easier to regard them as clutter, throw them away, then regret it decades later. But I expect Jaded has his all organised in albums.  :)
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Ruthie on 11 January, 2021, 10:13:21 am
It’s more the fact that someone had this in their hand, two days ago, and now it’s in my hand as they talk to me. I hear their voice as I read their familiar handwriting.  The letter my ex wrote me when it ended is stored away safe, like the treasure it is.

My email inbox is way, way more cluttered and disorganized than my drawers! But email is still there. Although I can send photos, links etc via WhatsApp.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 12 January, 2021, 12:37:18 pm
Quote
After she died, the house lay unused for nine years, until I bought it. I found her old ration book and letters from her sweetheart, who died in the first world war, under the floorboards. The letters were quite upsetting to read, knowing how he died young.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/jan/12/modern-life-is-rubbish-the-people-whose-homes-are-portals-to-the-past

I also used to know an old lady whose sweetheart had died in the First World War. She never married and lived to 104. I don't know if she kept his letters.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Jaded on 12 January, 2021, 03:08:43 pm
I don't entirely agree that printed photos have more staying power than digital ones though. They're less easy to ignore due to their physical presence but for the same reason it's easier to regard them as clutter, throw them away, then regret it decades later. But I expect Jaded has his all organised in albums.  :)

Printed ones need no equipment to be read/seen. Digital ones need two things - the medium is still readable, and the file type is still readable.

JPGs will probably be fine, but ORFs, or similar, will they still be readable in 30 years time? I have some od Zip disks - no working drive, so to me they are unbearable. On them will be some files for whom the original application is now obsolete, and there won't be much chance of finding something that will read them.

Oh, and I have a filing system for my photos. At least, that's what I call it.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 12 January, 2021, 03:14:05 pm
Oh, and I have a filing system for my photos. At least, that's what I call it.
This is what makes you a photographer.  :)
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: The Family Cyclist on 12 January, 2021, 03:40:08 pm
My youngest who was only 6 at the time back in late November/early December asked to write to Julia Donaldson as she had made some paper dolls inspired by JDs book

To her delight just before Christmas she got a card with a little note in from Julia. Def not joining the other Christmas cards in the recycling/gift tag bag
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Wowbagger on 22 January, 2021, 08:48:29 pm
I wrote a letter on Tuesday evening and posted it in Southend on Wednesday. It arrived in Toronto today.

I sent it "International Standard" which costs £1.70. In what appears to be a remarkably astute bit of joined-up thinking, that is precisely the same value as two first-class stamps.

(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 22 January, 2021, 09:19:38 pm
There is an Essex County in Ontario. But not a Billericay, as far as I can find. I wonder if the Canadian equivalent of Billericay Dickie is Toronto Tonto?
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Flite on 22 January, 2021, 09:20:00 pm
Did it arrive in Toronto, Co Durham??
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Wowbagger on 22 January, 2021, 09:35:11 pm
There is an Essex County in Ontario. But not a Billericay, as far as I can find. I wonder if the Canadian equivalent of Billericay Dickie is Toronto Tonto?
I believe there is a Billerica in the US of A.

Did it arrive in Toronto, Co Durham??

No, curiously: the Canadian one.

Edit: Billerica, Mass. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billerica,_Massachusetts
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 22 January, 2021, 09:42:35 pm
"America's Yankee Doodle town" no less! So their equivalent of Billericay Dickie should be Billerica Macarona...

https://youtu.be/uZW4vbIstoo
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: ian on 22 January, 2021, 10:01:22 pm
The place-names of New England always amused me. I had a Manchester, Coventry, Norwich, Scotland, Lebanon, Bozrah, obligatory Salem, Colchester, Mooween, Sprague, Windham, Brooklin, Canterbury, Preston, Lisbon, Willimantic, Ledyard, Mystic, Hebron, Voluntown, and a cheerful shout out for Gay City (south of Bolton, not really a place, I think it was just the name of the state park). Virginia names were more American (Ivy, Crozet, Profitt, Earlysville, Ishootyourmother, that kind of thing).
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: citoyen on 22 January, 2021, 10:40:14 pm
My aunt is currently in hospital in France having suffered a stroke. Bizarre as it may seem in 2021, physical letters are the only way of communicating with her right now.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: TimC on 22 January, 2021, 11:34:45 pm
I have recently received a hand-written letter (for which, thank you!). I am trying to source the materials, skill and inspiration to reply. I'm not sure I can marshal all three at the same time!
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Mr Larrington on 22 January, 2021, 11:39:13 pm
There is an Essex County in Ontario. But not a Billericay, as far as I can find. I wonder if the Canadian equivalent of Billericay Dickie is Toronto Tonto?
I believe there is a Billerica in the US of A.

Did it arrive in Toronto, Co Durham??

No, curiously: the Canadian one.

Edit: Billerica, Mass. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billerica,_Massachusetts

I've actually been there :smug:

ETA: every time this thread rises to the surface I cannot help but think of the Bonzos doing “Postcard”

(Sings)
Writing letters home
What a lovely view-EE-ooo (blah blah blab blab) (Dear Mom)
"What the Butler Saw" was a bit of a drag
The captain says he's going to heave, too

Bored with Bingo, we went for a swim
Fat sea cows with gorgonzola skin
Semi-nude!

After lunch, we grabbed our trunks
And we all got cramp!
Trousers rolled, the sea is cold
But it's good for chillblains

On the prom, white plimsolls and blue shorts
Brass band playing by the tennis courts
Love-fifteen! Love fifteen year olds

What a lovely view-EE-ooo, I've written at last
What's the rudest one? Just for a laugh
Just married and it sticks out for a mile!
We wish you were here x lots
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Kim on 23 January, 2021, 12:08:35 am
You don’t accidentally come across an old email in the back of a drawer. Or a bundle of old emails tied together with ribbon. See also: paper photos.

I dunno.  The experience of setting things up to read some obsolete media or coaxing an old computer back to life and sifting through the filesystem just to see what's on it is pretty comparable.  I don't think there's much difference between decoding handwritten letters from the back of a drawer, persuading the reel-to-reel tape recordings your granddad made before your were born to play, or scrolling through some of your childhood adventures in cargo-cult BASIC programming.

What's more useful but isn't anywhere near as satisfying is when it's all carefully archived on a live system, xkcd://1360 (https://xkcd.com/1360/)-style.  No fun, maximum cringe.


PSA: Please to be removing the batteries from your old computers, so they don't leak and corrode the circuit board and ruin some future archaeologist's day.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: orienteer on 23 January, 2021, 10:24:18 am
There used to be a special rate for postcards, less than a letter, provided the message was no more than "five conventional words of greeting".

So that was the message I wrote.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Wowbagger on 23 January, 2021, 10:30:54 am
There used to be a special rate for postcards, less than a letter, provided the message was no more than "five conventional words of greeting".

So that was the message I wrote.

I recall that, when I was very small, that postcards cost ½d less than letters. I think postcards were 2d at the time, but I do remember the price going up by ½d for each and there being consternation and uproar. I think the Chancellor of the Exchequer would have been either Selwyn Lloyd or Reginald Maudlin.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 23 January, 2021, 03:30:10 pm
I think the Chancellor of the Exchequer would have been either Selwyn Lloyd or Reginald Maudlin.
Nominative determinism? I mean, you can't have a cheerful Chancellor...
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Ham on 16 November, 2021, 08:15:28 pm

I dunno.  The experience of setting things up to read some obsolete media or coaxing an old computer back to life and sifting through the filesystem just to see what's on it is pretty comparable.  I don't think there's much difference between decoding handwritten letters from the back of a drawer, persuading the reel-to-reel tape recordings your granddad made before your were born to play, or scrolling through some of your childhood adventures in cargo-cult BASIC programming.

What's more useful but isn't anywhere near as satisfying is when it's all carefully archived on a live system, xkcd://1360 (https://xkcd.com/1360/)-style.  No fun, maximum cringe.


PSA: Please to be removing the batteries from your old computers, so they don't leak and corrode the circuit board and ruin some future archaeologist's day.

Under certain circumstances you are, in this instance, wrong. Those circumstances? The very faintest waft of a scent. Marks on the paper. The handwriting reflecting mood. The feel of the words reminding you of the feel of the person.  The choice of paper. The feel and thrill of the envelope. Just anything that connects you with the writer and the time it was written. With email, all you have are antiseptic words.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: ian on 16 November, 2021, 08:48:51 pm
I am pretty sure that many of my words are filthy.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 08 December, 2021, 03:05:05 pm
I have just received a handwritten letter. Two pages of beautiful cursive script in black ink on crisp white, neatly folded paper. From a stranger.

Addressed to "The Householder", what could it be? A Christmas card from the neighbours? No, because it had come through the post (second class but hey). Handwritten envelope, so nothing official or even spam official. Open it and find out.

Good morning,
My name is Italo Albomo and I am one of the millions of Jehovah's Witness volunteers who carry out a Bible education work around the world. I am contacting you to share a thought that might be useful and comforting especially in these rough times the globe is facing.


And similar for another five paragraphs, including 2 Timothy 3:16 (which I will leave for you too look up). I've no idea how they got or chose our address but it's a form of spam which I find, irrationally, quite charming. Cold calling from an age before telephones. Though it does end with an email address we can contact "for any other query". 
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: nicknack on 08 December, 2021, 05:55:44 pm
I send a handwritten letter to two people at Christmas. A cousin in USA and a friend in Australia. I hope they can read them. My handwriting was never very good but it seems to get worse every year. Admittedly there must be an element of being out of practice but I suspect old age (68) with a slightly wobbly hand also plays a part. It may be that next year printing will be involved.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Jurek on 08 December, 2021, 06:15:33 pm
I send a handwritten letter to two people at Christmas. A cousin in USA and a friend in Australia. I hope they can read them. My handwriting was never very good but it seems to get worse every year. Admittedly there must be an element of being out of practice but I suspect old age (68) with a slightly wobbly hand also plays a part. It may be that next year printing will be involved.
I've found that writing most stuff that I need to write, using a keyboard, has turned my handwriting and signature to shite. Dealing with legal stuff recently, I've had a solicitor comment along the lines of 'These signatures of your's - where is the similarity between any of them?'.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: De Sisti on 09 December, 2021, 08:47:50 am
Not handwritten, but a computer typed letter from the Border Agency was an absolute shocker.
It started off by inserting several spaces between my first name and surname.

This was followed by them referring to me as 'madam', with several spaces between 'Dear' and 'Madam'.

There was also the use of commas instead of full stop, not using a question mark when
asking a question, and finally, mis-spelling the word 'morning'. They typed 'mornig'.

In my reply to the issue I have with them, I inserted a photocopy of their letter with
the errors I noted highlighted in red.

I worked in the Civil Service and in the Military (communications). If I typed any sort
of letter/report/communication with those calibre of errors it would have not have left
the building.

I don't have a degree in English (only CSE grade 1), but I think I can spell to a decent
level and have a basic enough grasp of grammar to ensure I do not make the howlers
that I came across in Border Force's letter to me.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: L CC on 09 December, 2021, 09:02:44 am
My youngest daughter writes me actual letters from time to time.
They make me cry, mostly, being thoughts and feelings rather than the day to day communications we usually share.
I send cards. Fewer words, same sentiments.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Wowbagger on 16 December, 2021, 10:11:08 am
I have just received a handwritten letter. Two pages of beautiful cursive script in black ink on crisp white, neatly folded paper. From a stranger.

Addressed to "The Householder", what could it be? A Christmas card from the neighbours? No, because it had come through the post (second class but hey). Handwritten envelope, so nothing official or even spam official. Open it and find out.

Good morning,
My name is Italo Albomo and I am one of the millions of Jehovah's Witness volunteers who carry out a Bible education work around the world. I am contacting you to share a thought that might be useful and comforting especially in these rough times the globe is facing.


And similar for another five paragraphs, including 2 Timothy 3:16 (which I will leave for you too look up). I've no idea how they got or chose our address but it's a form of spam which I find, irrationally, quite charming. Cold calling from an age before telephones. Though it does end with an email address we can contact "for any other query".

It seems to be a new tack they are trying. We had one a few weeks ago.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 16 December, 2021, 10:18:52 am
Have you responded? It could be the start of a beautiful pen-friendship.  ;) I'm afraid ours has gone in the recycling and I forgot to note down the email address he gave.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: nicknack on 16 December, 2021, 10:37:31 am
I have just received a handwritten letter. Two pages of beautiful cursive script in black ink on crisp white, neatly folded paper. From a stranger.

Addressed to "The Householder", what could it be? A Christmas card from the neighbours? No, because it had come through the post (second class but hey). Handwritten envelope, so nothing official or even spam official. Open it and find out.

Good morning,
My name is Italo Albomo and I am one of the millions of Jehovah's Witness volunteers who carry out a Bible education work around the world. I am contacting you to share a thought that might be useful and comforting especially in these rough times the globe is facing.


And similar for another five paragraphs, including 2 Timothy 3:16 (which I will leave for you too look up). I've no idea how they got or chose our address but it's a form of spam which I find, irrationally, quite charming. Cold calling from an age before telephones. Though it does end with an email address we can contact "for any other query".

It seems to be a new tack they are trying. We had one a few weeks ago.
I got one a couple of days ago.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Wowbagger on 16 December, 2021, 10:51:55 am
I haven't bothered to reply.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Mr Larrington on 16 December, 2021, 12:07:07 pm
Tangentially, I got a CD through the door in a clear plastic envelope the other day.  Words such as “Jesus” and “Hallelujah” were written on it, in what looked suspiciously like blood.  Yes, I'm really going to put that in a Babbage-Engine just to see what's on it…. Fortunately I was taking out the Rubbishes at the time and was thus able to throw it away with minimal effort.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: TheLurker on 16 December, 2021, 03:47:02 pm
Quote from: Cudzoziemiec
I have just received a handwritten letter. Two pages of beautiful cursive script in black ink on crisp white, neatly folded paper. From a stranger....
Aye, we got one addressed to "My Neighbour"  a week or so ago; written in a town 10 miles from here so "Neighbour" was a bit of a stretch.  The temptation to write back inviting the sender to attend our next Black Mass asking them to bring any spare virgins for the sacrifice was very strong, but not even I could be quite that cruel.
Title: Re: Writing letters
Post by: Redlight on 16 December, 2021, 03:58:44 pm
There used to be a special rate for postcards, less than a letter, provided the message was no more than "five conventional words of greeting".

So that was the message I wrote.

I am reading the autobiography of Phil Coulter, one half of the songwriting team that produced the UK's first Eurovision winner with Puppet on a String and tried again the following year with Congratulations.

It's amazing to think that in those days the UK entry was chosen by the public voting by sending in postcards and, in 1968, the winning entry received more than 130,000 votes, with other receiving tens of thousands too. (I recall that talent shows like Opportunity Knocks employed the same system.)

It's hard to imagine anyone today going to the effort of buying a blank postcard, addressing it, stamping it and taking it to a postbox to register their vote for Strictly Come Dancing or I'm a Nonentity, Get My Agent Here.

(And, of course, the programmes received no revenue from the votes.)