Letter Writing

Sort through your post on any morning, throw out the junk mail, put the bills to one side, and what are you left with? Probably nothing. As little as ten years ago, your postman would have been delivering letters, not Boden catalogues.

If you are unfamiliar with letters, they are a form of communication involving the written word. Normally an individual would write down some thoughts and news onto sheets of paper using a pen, pop it into an envelope and send to a friend or relative, or anyone else they cared to correspond with. It was a bit like an email, only slower.

I am a staunch defender of the internet but there is one big drawback: people hardly write letters anymore. Finding a handwritten letter on your doormat is as rare as a four-leaf clover or spotting a red squirrel anywhere other than the Isle Of Wight.

Email and instant messaging has made communication quicker and easier than ever before and has removed the need for letters at all in many cases. This is a real shame as there are few pleasures more personal than writing a letter, or receiving one for that matter. We must all know at least one person who would appreciate a short note through the post, if we all wrote one after reading this entry then we would be passing on a small piece of friendliness.