Sending handwritten letters may have fallen out of fashion, but I’m a great believer in the power of letters. There’s something unique and special about handwritten things. You write a letter not because there’s something you need to know, but there’s something you want to say. 【小题1】

The letter is a powerful and memorable way to touch the ones you care about. When my granny died and I cleared her house, I found hundreds of letters she had kept. 【小题2】 There were letters from her mother, who died long before: I was born, but sitting reading them one rainy afternoon, her words stretched out across time and I felt I knew her.

【小题3】 It can enrich a relationship and allow it to grow. When I was 12, I faked a letter from a parent to the pet shop for a pet mouse. My mum punished me and made me write letters to some relatives. One of them was my uncle who I’d only met a few times before. I wrote a long letter detailing my life and listing my interests. My punishment-complete, I forgot about this until I suddenly got a reply from him. “How lovely to hear from you,” he said, and went on to tell me all about his life. He’d love to hear about what subjects at school I enjoyed. 【小题4】 I have grown close to him since then.

I often think about how that one naughty childhood behavior led to such an enriching communication that stretched on for many years. It encouraged me to write to lots of other people in fact. 【小题5】 So, I’d encourage you to put pen to paper and see where it leads. What have you got to lose?