Is it too early for Season's Greetings?

No, not for me it isn't... I send Christmas/New Year/Season's greetings cards in the post, and many of those go overseas. Postal services can be on the slow side in the last quarter of the year. I have already sent some cards out, a couple to Canada were posted last month after the blanket strike ended. At least one of these cards has arrived. I did also receive a couple of Christmas cards in October, one was posted in Australia, and the other was from within the UK. 

Why do I even still send cards in a digital world when I am an atheist? OK, most of the cards will accompany letters so is a little extra for the recipient to smile about. It is still a nice thing to do, a physical reminder that I care. Digital greetings mean very little to me. Have some been written with supposed Artificial Intelligence? Have the words been cut/pasted from somewhere else? Are they even genuine feelings from the person sending them? Perhaps it is plain laziness, can't be bothered but better do something, let the computer do it. After all, Facebook reminds us of birthdays our "FB friends" have allowed to be somewhat public.

One in-law doesn't like cards, because they don't say much. She'd rather chat to people instead, and hear personal news. Fair enough. It is connecting. Some people send a letter with the card informing friends and family about the year's news and events, for example, someone might say that their eldest daughter passed with distinction a clarinet exam, or their son has started a degree at university.. These snippets of personal news may have been plastered all over social media, but then, not everyone is on every type of asocial media. 

I usually buy cards supporting charities I like. Though I've not been able to find many cards suitable for my needs - I don't like square ones as they may fall foul of international mail minimum sizing, or if they need  to be sent onwards in the US, they'll attract a non-machinable surcharge, or just inconvenient to use with the letter I've written folded to, say, A6 size, and then won't go into the envelope. 

 

Christmas cards

It is early December, a time when many a Christmas decoration has appeared in the home; trees bought and transported on the car roof or even by bus; lights adorn the outside walls of some houses, and illuminated net curtains in the windows. It is also a time Christmas card lists are drawn up and acted upon. I am an atheist but I still like sending/receiving Christmas cards at this  time of year; my preferred pre-printed sentiment inside being either Merry Christmas & Happy New Year, or, Season’s Greetings. The latter perhaps being more apt, with the delays/mishaps in the postal system delivering some cards well after the event. 

To my blog readers

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

From CorrespondenceFan 

However, cards with to/from and nothing much more may not mean as much as, say, a phone call wishing you the same sentiments, and then going on to chat about life, the universe, everything. Most of my cards will be going to penpals, so they’ll get the life, universe, everything throughout the year. But for those not going to regular correspondents, maybe I should write a little more than wishing you all the best over the holidays and the new year. Perhaps I could do a printed round robin letter, with a summary of my year. I do receive a few of these, even from penpals, and they do make a nice little reminder of their year. 

For those who aren’t postal… is the postage worth it, especially when you can send a text message, email, or e-card? For 75p, 2nd class domestic postage within the UK, maybe, especially if you make it memorable, a keepsake. I have family connected through Facebook, and they only seem to wish each other happy birthday, etc, on Facebook, even for the younger members of the family who aren’t on FB, or living in the same house. Digital greetings and maybe even then only reminded by FB. Sad, considering grandparents may have exchanged love letters, and kept letters & postcards from family; current history, the connections will be lost. E-messages don’t have the same romance.

What are your first memories of letter writing?

I can't remember what age I was, but I remember my mother writing letters to her brother in Australia, sending them off in first day covers, and seeing the pretty stamps on the replies.

I remember writing postcards and/or letters home from camps I went on with The Woodcraft Folk (I was an elfin, and later, a pioneer, but didn't venture onwards due to homework and other things). There was an international camp in Loughborough and the elfins went on a trip to a lemonade factory, while the pioneers went down a coal mine. Then, the following year, just before I started secondary school, I went to France with The Woodcraft Folk, and stayed with the group who'd stayed with us at the international camp. I wrote home. 

Penpalling didn't start for me until 3rd year in secondary school. My German teacher was wunderbar. She organised a school exchange with a Gymnasium in Germany. I wanted to go, and those who also wanted to, were paired up with students from the Gymnasium beforehand so we could write letters (auf Deutsch). We had school trips both here and over there: Les Misérables was my favourite trip on this side, but over there, maybe Phantasialand! Weeeeee.

Sometime after the exchange, my French teacher passed round forms for the International Youth Service, for penpals. I ticked a few boxes and received letters. One was from Frédérick from near Toulouse, and another was from Singapore but I got her name wrong. I didn't know it was surname first, but then in public life, some people are referred to by their surnames (e.g. politicians). There were a couple of others, but with all of them, correspondence didn't last long as pressures of homework, and that... 

I moved around for a bit, and that isn't exactly conducive to penpalling, but I did manage to keep up a correspondence with one penpal made through an advertisement I had put in newspapers around the world. Correspondence however slowed down for a while as other things in life have a habit of taking over. That correspondence lasted on and off for almost 25 years before he passed away.

Living in a somewhat rural area, not connected that well with big cities through public transport (no proper railway), and being an outsider here even after 20 years, it feels a lonely place. I have made some friends here and it is nice to see them for a chat, but that isn't always possible/convenient. OK, that may be just an excuse. But penpals are always there for when I write, it doesn't matter if they are asleep, or working, or having fun, or busy... Emails - I could send them but perhaps nowadays, these can be intruding on screen time of some sort or another, and maybe we need to get away from the computer (or other connected screen device). There is still a place for email. I have tried email correspondence but found it demanding - the email impatiently waits to be replied to. One person demanded almost immediate responses to daily emails. 

However, I do also communicate with some penfriends outside of writing letters, be it through forums and discussion threads, or social media. Sometimes, a faster response is required, such as finding out how quickly letters are arriving, as events and circumstance can affect mail delivery (e.g. THAT Icelandic volcano a few years back halting most aviation in the more northern parts of the northern hemisphere, Covid, other natural events,...).

On that note, there is industrial action affecting Royal Mail. I'm on the side of the posties (could they end up on zero hour contracts, self-employed, earning less than current times...) but I do miss days without a delivery. There is quite a backlog of post (parcels prioritised over letters, but only Royal Mail have a monopoly for letter delivery), and there's warnings that Christmas Cards could arrive as late as February. I'm guessing that includes domestic, but hope my international post isn't that delayed - would Royal Mail like to pass on the international mail so it gets it out of their hands and away? However, they've brought forward the last recommended posting dates, with all the international ones passsed. They want us to allow almost 2 weeks for second class post to arrive, when it should take no more than 3 working days. I do have a couple of cards or so left to send overseas, so perhaps as wishing Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year, I should also wish them Happy Valentine's, Happy Birthday, Happy Unbirthday....  and ask them to apply as appropriate! 

Extreme Letter Writing

 

Well, for some reason, I bought this book a while back in a charity shop. Extreme Ironing! What a concept. People ironing out and about, be it up a mountain, coming down one (rock climbing or abseiling perhaps), cycling, dangling from a zipwire, in a tree, underwater!!! 

So.... well, why not write letters out and about? 

It can be good to pause along a walk, so why not grab a few minutes or so to start a postcard, or letter? 

Sometimes, there are benches/tables to rest, admire the view and, well, for me, to pen a letter. 

Sometimes, no bench, so have to park myself on the grass. I had a gilet I could sit on.

I made use of slate to sit on and to use as a table. This site now has UNESCO World Heritage status.

Not so extreme is sitting at a table in a beer garden with a nice drink to hit the spot! 

I have had some people comment when they see me writing letters in cafes... I like to show people letter writing is still alive. 

A to Z of Snail Mail - part 1

 I thought it would be fun to do an A to Z of Snail Mail. Easier said than done. Needed help & suggestions! 

A is for Address book, and also for Air Mail, Air Mail labels, aerogrammes, anticipation...

B is for Box of postcards, Best Wishes...

C is for Christmas cards sent by penpals, but also for cartridges fountain pens might use, calligraphy, and correspondence can contain caring and compassion.

D is for delivery, Diamine inks, and letters bring delight.

E is for envelope, and no matter how hard you push, it is stationery. Excitement & enlightenment.

F is for fountain pens. 

G is for General Post Office.

H is for Home (address), handwritten letters, and handwriting.

I is for ink, and also InCoWriMo, and international mail....

J is for Jolly letters written in J. Herbin ink (other inks are available). 

K is for the Kindness found in many letters, written perhaps with Krishna Ink.

L is for Letter, letter writing, letter writing paper, Lamy fountain pens & ink, letter openers, letterbox, and Love from..

M is for Mail, both incoming and outgoing missives mailed...

Part two later, but feel free to comment with your suggestions. Haven't gotten ideas yet for some of the other letters...

December

It is that time of year where many of us reach out to old friends and family. Some would have sent just a Christmas card and perhaps with no other words other than the season's greetings, as other words may not be needed. Others would have enclosed a summary of the year with news of exam results, hobbies, and trips undertaken. Then, there are those who prefer the electronic means of communication (it doesn't cost a postage stamp or two). I am not a Luddite but I dislike email. The words might not even by your own as predictive text removes the need to think about what to write. Digital Christmas cards (not made out of paper) filled with emoji and/or animated gifs get easily forgotten. Handwriting shows thought and compassion, feeling and emotion. I know there are times the type-written/word-processed missives are the only way for some to correspond, whether due to writing-hand ill-health or a difficult bit of news to be repeated to many, so I do make exceptions.

Letters and cards are easier to treasure. Do you keep all those silly little email greetings, especially ones with URLs to the electronic greetings cards websites - would the message still be there on the website in 20 years time? Would your great great grandchildren be able to see the thoughtfulness of the message, or be able to open the attachment from the century-old email missive? Handwritten letters might not last forever (flood/fire) but wouldn't it be a shame that only scholars/well-educated people would be the only ones to be able to decipher the handwriting?

'Tis the season

December has arrived, and Christmas cards have been coming in the mail. I have also been sending cards too, still more than a few yet to write and post. I am having some trouble finding Christmas cards I actually want to send. I still have some from previous years and I was able to buy more this year, but the problems I have are:

1) Many of the cards I come across are square. Not a problem for postage within the UK, but the smaller square cards suitable for posting domestically, fall foul of the minimum sizing for international mail.

I had posted in this blog in December 2016  about this, after I had sent a small square card out internationally.

The US has a non-machinable surcharge for square items of mail. I did wonder if Royal Mail would go down that route, but so far, they haven't....

2) Many cards also have glitter on. After the big fuss of Sir David Attenborough's nature series showing the amount of plastic in the ocean and killing off some creatures - even poisoning milk and killing little baby sea mammals.

Not all of the cards have glitter, and my camera hasn't made it easy for you to tell which cards here have glitter.

The designs look nice and I have bought glittery cards in the past before Blue Planet II. I still like the way glitter shines in the light and it would be very hard for me not to go Ooo about it. However, when buying new cards, I think I can restrain myself from getting glittery ones now.

3) Some of the sentiments inside are not what I want. I need both the wishes for Christmas and for the New Year. However, some just have Christmas wishes in. I do also like Season's Greetings as that can mean time-appropriate greetings. Although it can be a bit strange to send a winter scene to someone in the southern hemisphere. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to one and all. 

Christmas Cards

It is the season to be jolly, so I bought Christmas cards from charity shops to send to my penpals around the world. For the greeting, I like the wording similar to either Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, or, Season's Greetings. However, many just have Christmas greetings so that means writing in Happy New Year.

Now, the weight of the cards can be an issue, with some really fancy ones over 20g. This then falls into the 20-100g postage band. No good. So, limited to smaller cards. I bought square cards, some bigger than others. The smaller ones are a good weight and even allow room for a sheet or two of paper for a letter. So, I write my letters and enclose  them with a smallish square Christmas card. I post it, having looked up at the pricing leaflet from Royal Mail I picked up in May, with correct postage. I head over to Twitter but am dismayed when one post office tweeted about a minimum size for international mail. I responded to Royal Mail wondering if my slightly shy of a minimum 14cm on one dimension on the envelopes (supplied with the cards) would still get to Germany and USA. The reply is yes, as long as enough postage has been used but also to check https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/121 - this shows indeed a minimum size.

However, another current Royal Mail link mentions nothing about minimum size: http://www.royalmail.com/personal/international-delivery/international-standard (accessed 9th December 2016)

In the US, there may be a surcharge on square letters as the one dimension falls into non-machineable thingywhatsit (maybe a "which way is up" problem for the machines). I was wondering then whether Royal Mail will head down that route in the future and add a surcharge.

So, I have a bunch of under 140mm square Christmas cards to get through. There is no reported minimum size for domestic mail. So, I can use for them.

What a jolly scene. I have sneaked a few of the into 7 inch by 5 inch envelopes and this is under the 20g.

I bought also smaller cards to fit into the C6 (roughly 6 inch by 4 inch) envelopes. However, these ones I have to write in the New Year greeting. This size or even lightweight cards to fit into the C6 envelopes are rare.

So, I thought, if I have to write in Happy New Year, why not go for blank cards. I came across some nice folded gift tags and thought - they'd do for festive cards. I can then place more emphasis on the letter... size doesn't matter (it is the thought that counts?) and I can write my own greeting.

Happy New Year

These are just some of the Christmas and New Year cards I have received.

I received this as a Christmas present.

Belated November stats:
Letters: out  14; in 15
Postcards: out  57; in  3
Other nice things: out 19; in 8

December stats:
Letters: out 8; in 8
Postcards: out 0; in 2
Other nice things: out 4; in 11