Handwriting with Fountain Pen
The Decline of Letter Writing
It is so sad that there is little letter writing these days. And Christmas Cards are also in decline. I was a great letter writer and had several pen pals when in my teens. Sadly I lost contact with them all – one was in Kent, England, and another in the Philipines, and one in New South Wales. I also wrote to cousins. We regularly exchanged letters and I loved getting their letters.
I have always been a regular writer of letters and continued to write to my parents for many years. My parents remained in Adelaide, while I lived in several states of Australia. They were never into computers and email. Letters it was.
Many of the letters my parents wrote to me are still in my possession. I am a great lover of fountain pens for writing and have a collection of them – especially some with purple ink. My favourite colour.
There are articles about the decline of letter writing on the ‘Net, but few written recently.
How do you write a letter?
Does one need instructions? It appears so. I found an Australia Post site which explains how to write a letter. I was a bit surprised by the so-called “etiquette”. It suggested in one article that if you made a mistake, you’d need to start the letter all over again. I certainly didn’t do that. I’d neatly put a line through the mistake and keep going – unless ofcourse it was in the first line or two.
Pens for Grandchildren
I am not sure that it went down well, but I gave my four grandchildren a fountain pen each. I have asked them previously when I have given them money especially, for birthday or Christmas to let me know what they spend the money on. I’ve asked them to write and tell me. None have.
This time, they will all get a letter penned by me, thanking them for my Christmas gifts, and enclosing a stamped addressed envelope for them to reply to me. I wonder how that will work.
Handwriting is a dying art.
With all students these days using keyboards at school, the art of handwriting is dying, but according to a number of studies, it is still a valuable tool, especially to help with spelling and construction of sentences. This is an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal here.
I think it is sad – and hope that in some way there can be a revival of this art. I am going to do my bit.
Letter Writing Day 2018 is on Thursday December 7th. It is in my Diary. I am going to promote it as much as I can.
I have just found that National Handwriting Day is on January 23rd, 2018. Let’s Do It!
