Monday, May 21, 2012

Monday Mail Out: A Postcrossing Update.

[A magical bookish postcard from the USA]


You may recall (or not) a recent Monday Mail Out post about the Postcrossing Project and my decision to sign up for it, made very much on a whim. It's what happens when work becomes mundane and I'm so bored my brain feels like it is going to disintegrate entirely and I'm desperate for something interesting to occupy my time. We all have those days. Right?


[Another bookish postcard from The Netherlands]


According to my Postcrossing profile, I have now been a member for 49 days. How time flies! During this time I have sent 7 postcards, which have travelled a total of 43,309 km, to people in the USA, Russia, Belarus and The Netherlands. I know that 3 of those 7 have been received successfully, and another 2 are presently skirting the globe as we speak. The remaining 2 I suspect have been lost and will expire in the next 10 - 11 days: Postcrossing is proving an interesting experiment on the reliability of the post. I had not expected to encounter losses so early on in the piece.


[A viewcard from France; the message was in French & I've no idea what it says]


Over the past 49 days I have also received 4 postcards, the first a horse from the Czech Republic, the most recent books and bunnies from the USA. I'm intrigued by the choices, and so far not one has been particularly predictable.

Yesterday afternoon I spent (too much time) creating my first handmade postcard, which went out with today's post. It's yellow with flowers and a carousel and glittery bits. It's going to sparkle all the way to the USA.

[A lovely horse from the Czech Republic]


It has since become my Friday afternoon routine to log into Postcrossing and arrange another postcard. I then use the weekend to make my thoughtful selection and it's in the post by Monday morning. Simple, blissful, postal fun.  
 
 
Written correspondence has been a hobby of mine for a long time, & Monday Mail Out is a weekly feature whereby I can share my love for the lost art of letter writing. I hope my experiences will encourage others to send out letters on Monday too, and have them rediscover the joy of sending and receiving mail. If you have a blog, feel free to join in.

4 comments:

  1. Oh Sorcha, that sounds like such lovely fun. Thank you for sharing your adventures with us, I think it will be a while before I have the time to send letters the traditional way!

    Sorry to hear the post has lost some of your cards. I have heard it is really struggling now online shopping has taken off.

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  2. But that's the good thing about postcards, Mrs A: They don't take up too much time! Perfect for people who like receiving mail but don't really have the time to dedicate to full-length letters. :)
    ~S.

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  3. If you email me the back of the French postcard I might be able to translate it for you - I used to do French at school :)

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  4. I love postcrossing - I haven't sent anything out for ages but I now have a wall in my office covered in post cards from when I was really active!
    Glad i am not the only one with boot issues!

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