AS AN EXPAT LIVING IN PARIS, some things always hit me hard as being quintessentially English, or British, rather.
Red telephone boxes are one. Red double-decker buses are another. Red noses on pale faces on chilly winter days would fit the mould too.
Spotting a theme yet? Well, the mythical red British pillar box would complete the venerable triumvirate (with red noses an honorary member).
I, for one, lament the passing of the post as an actual ‘thing’ in most people’s lives. Certainly, on the personal level, the thrill of the postie arriving and the anticipation of possibly, potentially, perhaps receiving a handwritten letter in a sweet-smelling envelope is practically prehistoric and pretty much extinct.
They used to say that the sound of the letter box clacketting and the morning’s letters hitting the doormat was the emotional highlight of the day. The pulse would quicken, the heart would tighten and anyone who was anyone would hasten to the door to see, just in case…
These days we have hundreds or thousands of micro-distractions bombarding us, wherever we are, even on far mountain tops. Phone messages, email alerts, Facebook comments and Instagram Likes assail us constantly, and yet they have all been diluted and not one of them looks or feels or smells like those precious letters of my youth.
That’s why I make a point of popping real letters, bearing colourful stamps I chose and stuck on myself, into genuine postboxes whenever I can. And when it’s an authentic British pillar box in some provincial town, heading off to a distant loved one, so much the better.
Although, I have to admit, my picture of me posting the letter might make it onto social media before the letter itself arrives, but it’s the thought – and action – that counts, right?
The Laggard of Lakeland 
(Lakeland Chronicles No.14)
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Wainwright Log: 2 of 214 Fells Felled / 0 Books Bashed / Visit Log
