Write A Wrong

Dear Mum,

Yesterday I joined the thousands of Brits who ventured to a petrol station – waking up to the news this morning that this really wasn’t necessary.

It was an experience I’m glad I don’t encounter every time I need to top up on car juice.

On the whole, people waited patiently for a spot to come free, the wait only taking about five minutes, (enough time to listen and power-sing to ‘Jar of Hearts’, clutching at my steering wheel and taking huge breaths in preparation for the chorus, shrugging off the looks of my bemused fellow drivers).

But there were some (men in vans, I hasten to add) who thumped their horns like horrified Britain’s Got Talented judges if the pour soul at the front of the queue had not spotted a pump ahead becoming available. The pour sod then attempting to manoeuvre the car to claim the spot, a difficult task with a battalion of cars tightly positioned behind them.

It was a messy business. But, on this occasion, complaints about petrol prices seem to have diffused. Desperate times calls for a review of the situation, choosing convenience and necessity over the extortionate cost of car juice.

The cost of petrol does, ordinarily, make me wave my scrunched up fists in disbelief and beat them on the bonnet of my Yaris. But, as said, I do need it. And it is absolutely no-one’s fault, my little Yaris included.

Same with stamps. Good god. 60 pence for a first-class stamp, 50p for second-class? To send a thank you card to Grandma? When I was a girl, a first-class stamp cost just 27p, and second-class stamp 19p! How much will they cost when I’m a grandma? £3.00 and £2.50?

I will be visiting the post office to stock up on stamps before 30^th April when Royal Mail introduces its profit-boosting strategy.

This is not ‘panic-buying’. This phrase, bandied around in the press, doesn’t make much sense in these situations. And was undoubtedly what triggered many, myself included, to think ‘Mm, perhaps I should be stocking up on the dinosaur soup.’

Ordinarily, this phrase should be used as a snow storm approaches, or during an apocalyptic disaster, or when the last Mars Bar will be in production (Heaven forbid).

This is absolutely not the end of the world. It’s just a bit inconvenient and buggered up Christmas card lists. (I don’t want to go without the traditional round robin newsletters at Christmas but, alas, we may find a dearth of them on our doormats this year, Mum).

But the present rush to fill the car tank and stock up on stamps is, simply, a sensible preparation for the coming month and an attempt to save some pennies in the current economic climate.

As for the cost of stamps – I will be purchasing stamps before the new rates because it will save me money.

In a digital age with the ease and immediacy of texts and emails, we are losing the joy of finding a handwritten addressed envelope on the doormat. Ripping it open and revelling in the letter’s written content over a cup of tea is one of life’s simplest pleasures.

But LOOK at what you’re reading! A blog used as a form of contact, fashionable in this day and age, quick, accessible and easily located. Indeed, I use technology to stay in touch with friends and family day in, day out.

But I’m lucky that I have friends and relatives who also write to me. I find it touching to think they thought about me, putting a pen to paper and projecting their thoughts onto it.

I began this blog for the aforesaid reasons – an easy way to stay in touch and voice my experiences of the world. But I am anxious and disappointed that this will be the soul form of communication for future generations.

Will I be sending e-Christmas cards when I’m a pensioner? Will literature be updated – Lizzie receiving a text from Darcy about Wickham’s past indiscretions? – Tess’ email about her lost child finding itself in Angel’s junk box? – Jane blogging about the mysterious noises coming from the attic?