London Letters Summer Postcard Exchange Coming Soon!

This time of year always feels incredibly nostalgic for me. A combination of the blistering heat, wearing shorts and tshirts and devouring ice creams alongside the dusk-time soundtrack of the wood pigeons cooing before bedtime will always take me back to childhood summer holidays.

 

In recent times I have become very whimsically minded about those years. Since re-joining social media last month, I am bombarded on my FYP with AI videos of scenes from the late 90's and 00s. And despite the fact they are AI, and I am watching on social media, I am so drawn to them. The comfort of those days - where I didn't feel so critical of myself and the world around me. Where everyone would listen when you spoke because they didn't have a phone in their hand to distract them. Where photos were taken with intention and warmth and not at any possible given moment. Where Christmas cards and birthday cards would arrive in their masses and we weren't worried that one day our postal service might not even exist. And then I feel a pang of sadness that those days are gone forever, and the new generation of children will never experience that freedom. 

 

And so, this summer, I've decided to re-ignite a little nostalgia to my days, and get actively involved in sending postcards - I'll occasionally send one or two, but this year I'm going big. Partly because they are so innocent and easy to write, partly because I think they are such a lovely friendly hello to receive in the post, but mostly because we did it a lot as kids and there is whimsy to be found in reigniting old hobbies.

 

With the official summer holidays fast approaching, I wondered whether anyone else might like to engage in a little postcard exchange. Just for fun and nothing too serious, but given we have so many newsletter subscribers dotted all around the world, it might be lovely if we all went to our local post office or gift shop, bought a few postcards that showcase our local town / village / city and pop them off anonymously to one another.

After posting this in a newsletter last week, we received over 250 YES replies, and so I'm excited to say the London Letters Summer Postcard Exchange is coming soon!

 

London Letters will act as HQ, so we can keep all personal information anonymous so that no addresses are shared (other than with us here). You won't need to be signed up to any of our pen pal clubs or even have purchased from us before to take part, this will be open to anyone to get involved.

I just think it will be so wonderful to get people writing postcards again. In particular I think it would be lovely if you introduced the initiative to your kids too, because the magic of a letter will never be lost on a child - and if we can inspire that generation to write, we won't all have to worry so much about the future of our post.

Here's to a postcard summer!

Jennifer

P.S. wish you were here!