I can well imagine the idea of feeling the emotions, the thoughts, the innermost secrets of a person, perhaps long gone or merely far away, through the handling of an object they have touched or been connected to is a fascinating thought. Picture what we, as individuals, would be able to do in our lives…

I wonder, just in passing, how many people realise that there is an empty space in their life, that something special or completing is absent before that missing piece appears, before the emptiness that they have always felt but never accepted as being there, never understood, is filled. We all know that things are not…

It may not happen very often, but sometimes I feel the urge to put together a letter which is rather more than just an ordinary airmail envelope and a few sheets of paper, were the words are accompanied by an image which, I always hope, relates to the person being addressed, and entices them into…

Firstly I’d like to put your mind at ease and let you know that the letter I received meant for someone else had nothing to do with you or your mailroom, it was a lazy person who wrote the same letter to several people and simply forgot to change a name within the text. I…

I’m not going to say that I tire of people thanking me for writing to them, I do appreciate that the contact offered, and perhaps some of the content written, can be of interest and, perhaps, opens new avenues of thought and interest for them in what could otherwise be a very boring or monotone…

One of the things I have always wanted to do, but never really looked into, is travel from Beijing to Moscow on the Trans-Siberian railway line, just for the experience  more than anything else, since it would be impossible to see most of the countryside or visit towns and cities along the way and, probably…

One of the things many people find difficult to understand is the difference between intellectual and intelligent people: many, it seems to me, wrap both together as one thing, as one form of person, and assume that an intellectual conversation, for example, is carried out by intelligent people in an appropriate atmosphere. But an intelligent…

One of the beautiful, and most frustrating, things about collecting anything, be it stamps, postcards, books or whatever, is that the possibilities seem to be endless. New works are published practically every single day, certainly when it comes to such valuable items as books, and the chances of ever having a complete collection are remote…

Speaking as an old person who has, theoretically, all his best years behind him, no future ahead, and who has been effectively written off by society, I tend to agree that beauty is merely a surface facet of a person and what is inside is of considerably more worth. And also, as I am sure…

It sounds silly, or might be called a terrible excuse, when you claim not to have had enough time to sit down and write a letter only to those who fail to appreciate how much another person has to do, regardless of their circumstances, and how much effort they normally put into their letter writing,…