We used to wait...

Remember the days when a trip to the letter box would yield more than a barrage of correspondence from studylink? When letters might make you smile, rather than reminding you that you're indebted to the government for life?

Snail mail is rapidly becoming obsolete in a world of facebook, emails and cell-phones. Yet, marvelous though these technologies are, they'll never provide that heart-warming feeling of opening a real, handwritten letter.

The days when people were forced to communicate via post are unfathomable to our generation who can contact someone on the other side of the world at a click of a button, and can view 'what's on the mind' of hundreds of people on one facebook homepage.

Yet, easy and accessible as they are, these new forms of communication seem a little bit emotionally hollow. There's something so special about knowing that someone has made the effort to write something down on paper, just for you, and that that letter has made a journey on a boat, a plane, and a postman's bag all the way to your letter box. As a child I used to delight in running to the letter box every morning as soon as I heard the postman's ute.

This is a wonderful 'interactive music video' by Arcade Fire... Type in the address where you grew up and prepare to be amazed. 

Click here!

The lyrics really struck a chord with me...

"... It seems strange

how we used to wait for letters to arrive

But what's stranger still

is how something so small can keep you alive..."

So even though our world is changing fast, take a peaceful moment to sit down with a coffee and a pen and write a letter. Find a penpal, write to your grandma, keep in touch with an old friend... It is a lovely thing to do, and will bring a smile to someone's face.