Stamps

Somehow the existence of the new barcoded stamps had passed me by. I bulk bought stamps at the start of the year and now that we send far fewer letters, I was still using my 1st class stock till this week. Apparently these were introduced in February and will completely replace the old ones from January next year.

Stamps have always been a large part of my life. As a little girl I loved to play “post offices”. I had a little PO set and then when the bits ran out my Mum would make me stamps by drawing on a page and using a pin to make holes round the “stamps” so I could tear them off. My father was a Head Post Master and collected stamps himself and then I went on to collect them too. We loved seeing the new designs and Dad would always buy any special editions. The last time I ever saw my Dad, in the year 2000, we sat and looked through my stamp album together.

When I initially moved to London in 1984 letters were the main way of keeping in touch. I did phone home, from a payphone, but I also sent and received several letters a week. Ever since those days I wouldn’t dream of sending a letter second class. It felt important, once the words were on the page and the envelope was sealed, to get it in the box straight away and then you would picture the person opening it the next day. Most first class post did get there the next day, we were shocked if it didn’t. 
Many of my friends moved abroad or went travelling abroad in their twenties and again it was through the power of a letter that we heard their news and pictured their new life.   Even now, the letters that friends include in a Birthday or Christmas card mean more to me than any present.
The Post Office and BT connection is strong in our family. I have a bracelet that was given to my Granny (my Mum’s Mum, who I never met) and inside it says Cupar PO, July 12th 1913. On her marriage certificate it gives Telegraphist as her occupation. My Mum worked in the Oban telephone exchange before she married, as did my Aunt Jean from the age of 16 till retiring at 62. Jean's sister Isobel was sent to Ballachulish to train a young man called Doug in the sub post office there, they fell in love and had a sub post office together. Rob and I both worked for BT for 21 years, that's where we met,  and our studio now is the original telephone exchange for the village from the 1930s.
Right…I’m off now to post a letter.