Letters

When I was a kid, we had no choice about manners. If you didn't say please or thank you, you didn't get it. It was that simple. That went with everything and everyone!

Another thing we had to do was write a thank you letter to everyone we received a birthday or Christmas present from. I'll be honest, I did find it a bit of a chore at the time but I totally agree my parents for making me write them. I still write them now and I expect my eldest to do the same. I realise that all families have different ways but I still say you can't beat a letter in the post.

In our stocking, we always used to get a pack of notelets to write our letters on. I thought I would get some as they are so much prettier than blank paper. I walked into WHSmiths and asked where I could find some notelets and was given a mystified look. I could have asked for the Holy Grail and got a better response. He had no idea what I wanted. Ok, so I tried a few other stationers in town and nobody stocks notelets anymore. I was amazed! I also asked if all these stores stocked any patterned or coloured writing paper. None of them did, they just had plain white.

I realise the digital age is upon us but I didn't realise that writing letters as a whole has almost died out. I find this incredibly sad. There is nothing like hearing the letter box go and seeing a hand written envelope land on your mat. I stopped rushing to grab the post in the morning until I joined Postcrossing. I would almost wait for the postman each day, wondering if I had a post card that day and if I did, where was it from? It is only thinking about it now I realise that is what was missing, letters!