One of the hardest things a letter writer has to come to terms with is not so much how long it takes to receive a reply, or even how much time they spend writing themselves, but what to write about. The very core of a letter is information passed on in this one, simple manner…

I’m going to have to come right out and say it, no prevarication, no hedging, no dodging the truth: I have a cat. This is rather like one of those Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, or what we see in films: My name is Cedric and I am a cat owner; I have owned a cat for…

There are so many different aspects to creativity, so many avenues an artist can follow, so many individual styles and tastes, it is almost impossible to say whether one person is more creative than another, whether one work of art deserves a higher position in the public eye than another. We look at some of…

I was wandering through the various cyber-highways this evening and came across two items which fascinated me, partially because they are hidden away, and partially because they have a great deal to do with one of our shared interests. The chances are that I would have come across them anyway, regardless of whether I had…

One of the more interesting philosophical arguments Plato and his School were involved in was whether a newborn child was conscious of certain things at birth, whether it had intelligence or even knowledge. For some the idea that a child could know nothing of the world it had been born into was inconceivable: they believed…

I’ve heard it said that if you are not nervous before going on stage, if you do not feel butterflies in your stomach, your hands jitter and your voice shakes, you have not understood the power of performance, the pleasure of standing before others and creating, and whatever it is that you present will, as…

I cannot remember the first time that I received an unexplained and strange looking letter through the post, and by that I mean one which was clearly not of an official nature, a bill, reminder or anything from a government agency. I know that it has been many years since anyone has written to me…

It was once a part of Japanese culture that a man, returning home from a night with his mistress, was required to write her either a thank-you letter for the time together, or a suitable poem. This missive was then delivered as quickly as possible so that the mistress, waiting for his note, could go…

I am used to delays in receiving post, in letters being sent from here, taking several weeks to arrive, and the answers, when written, taking two or three weeks to get back here. In most cases this means I can be happy with a turnaround averaging one and one half letters a month with anyone…

I’ll be honest and admit: I cannot imagine what life would be like with a television. I would have to go back to my pre-teen years to really appreciate what this gadget means, to the days when it was still relatively new and something of a miracle. I even remember, straining my mind slightly, the…