A smile a day

On my last post I mentioned that I had posted a letter without putting a stamp on the envelope.
Well, I often use that post box and happen to know that the collection from it is at 4.30. I finish work at 4 on Friday's so was able to go and wait for the postie to open the letterbox.
I did feel like a bit of a tit but the postie was very affable about it all and despite his concern that the box may already have been emptied that day, my letter was still there and a stamp was duly affixed to the envelope!
A small triumph I grant you but I smiled all the way home - in these doom an gloom times you need to cherish the little victories!

Poetic licence

The BBC (good old Beeb) is running a poetry season at the moment. Griff Rhys Jones presented a programme on Poetry the other night.
Watching it I was reminded how much I love the rhythm of words and, with poetry, it doesn't matter that I understand every last syllable, the joy of it is the feeling that it evokes.
The programme discussed how a poem expresses the emotions that we cannot necessarily put in to words.
Andrew Motion along with some others has set up the poetry archive - http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/home. - which not only allows the user to read the poetry but also hear it read. After all what else was it made for? I didn't grow up in a generation that was schooled to learn poetry off by heart but I might try and learn! Tyger Tyger is one of my favourites (I love the pace and sense of wonderment) and biblically I spend a lot of time in the Psalms as they are poetical in nature so maybe I'll start there - what point words if we do not make use of them?
Apropos of nothing, still enthused about the idea of letter writing, I posted one to my God Mother this morning as she hasn't been feeling well recently and I wanted to cheer her up. As I drove away from the post box I realised that I hadn't put a stamp on the letter. Sigh, forget being out of practice writing letters, I can't even post one!

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

I've recently finished the above book by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows and would heartily recommend it (though JR don't buy it as I'm going to send it to you!!). It's set in 1946 and author Juliet Ashton is stuck on a subject for her next book. Out of the blue she receives a letter from Dawsey Adams of Guernsey - by chance he's aquired a book that once belonged to her - and, spurred on by their mutual love of literature, they begin a correspondence. She is intrigued by his membership to the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and soon letters are flying back forth between Juliet and the other members of the society.
It's a charming, warm, funny read and the story is told entirely through the letters.
Letter writing is a lost art that maybe we should try to revive (JR - spooky that I was thinking this having finished the book and then read your letterpress love post) - I find that if I try to write now that I get cramp in my hand farily quickly as I only really take notes now rather than hand-writing any long passages. What I loved about this book is that it told the important details of the story but as had time for the little incidentals. It is those small moments that are the fabric of life and we should talk about them more.
I think we sometimes don't write as we feel that there is nothing to 'report' and that we should only communicate on a larger scale. However, I find the little incidents of life heart warming and love it when I get an email from a friend commenting on last night's episode of Ashes to Ashes and her concern that, due to the blustery wind blowing that day, she will soon see her pants out of the window flying down the street, having been torn off the washing line. But should they end up in a neighbours garden at least they would be clean - dignity at all times!
It those things, the shared humourous moment with a stranger, the sound of birds singing in the morning, the elderly couple holding hands in front of you, the seemingly unaccompanied herd of cows crossing the bridge over the motorway, the woman driving past you with her curlers in, obviously maximizing her use of time whilst driving to a night out and the list goes on. I want to know those things about my friend's lives (which is why I love reading DM and JR's blogs).
These instances will pass and they won't change the world but they do create a richer fabric which doesn't just consist of the doom and gloom that we hear on the news everyday.
I'm off to write a letter now in my bestest handwriting.......

Hey girlfriend!

I recently finished watching the last two ever episodes of SATC - I missed it when it was on TV so have been working my way through the seasons via the online DVD rental I subscribe to.

I have to admit that shed a few tears when Carrie said Goodbye to her friends and left for her new life in Paris.
It has occurred to me whilst watching the series that I will never have what Carrie has (no, not her fabulous wardrobe of outfits, though I do covet that!) a group of girlfriends who share everything together. I have my quartet of best friends - the lovely DM, LK, MG and JR - but they all live in different places in the UK or across the ocean. I count them all as blessings of course - as Carrie says to her girls - what would have my life been like if I hadn't met you? Mine would certainly been poorer without these and my other friends. However as a single gal there is no one set of friends that are involved in all the small tragedies and triumphs, what tends to happen is that you see people for a 'catch up' which has been organised weeks in advance where all the news is shared. This is lovely and valid but sometimes I miss conversation, just about everyday, topical nonsense. It is something we've lost in modern society, in our offices we are in the habit of emailing colleagues who sit a matter of feet away. It seems that with all the modern conveniences which save us time, we actually have less of it - how does that work?
There is a general consensus that though the economic downturn is hard, there are some positives as we all begin to re-evaluate what we think is important. So if I want this to change it begins with me. It is doubtful that I will ever have a group of friends that live in a close vicinity again but I can make effort with the ones that I have in different places. I can phone a friend instead of worrying about my to do list, I can prioritise relationship instead of doing, I can engage my creative brain and think of ways to socialize that allow time to talk. Despite all the advances of modern technology there isn't anything that can replace laughing with a group of friends around the dinner table. Sometimes it can be good to be all talk.......