A letter sent to the editor of the Wairarapa Times-Age from England that on behalf of the author was in search of friendship and, perhaps, love. PHOTO/NATHAN CROMBIE
I'M touched by a letter to the newspaper, from an Englishwoman asking for a pen-friend.
Those of my generation can probably remember having one or two, in the days when a person who lived overseas seemed impossibly exotic. Those were the days when you only got Lego if you had
a kind Aunt in the UK who would post it. Not only was email utterly non-existent, but so too were computers.
You posted your handwritten letter, hopefully with some attractive stamps from the post office, and had that tingle of anticipation every time you checked the mailbox.
Partially inspired by Charlie Brown's struggles to write to his "pencil-pal" in the Charles Schulz cartoons (Charlie Brown was never brave enough to write with a fountain pen), I had two pen-friends, in Canada and Egypt. It's the sort of exotic novelty that lasts until dating becomes more interesting.
Of course these days, postage is declining, and services are trying to make stamps even more attractive to bolster their declining revenue. In the US, a set of Beatles stamps are coming out, which sparked a minor controversy on whether John Lennon, a non-US citizen, is allowed to feature. He is, but it's a very rare honour.
