Not much blog writing for me yesterday – too busy writing postcards. You see, I’m an old-fashioned boy at heart. As much as I embrace the wonders of social media, I enjoy nothing better than receiving good old-fashioned ‘snail mail’. I also like to keep up the tradition of sending postcards to those nearest and dearest – although I haven’t always been so choosy.

Despite my now resolutely republican tendencies, (cue ‘tut, tut, tut’ from dear aunt Janet), I once spend a good part of a holiday to the Black Forest in Germany sending a postcard to every member of the Royal Family I could think of. The thing is (and this is a good tip for all you teachers out there) – you will always get a reply.

On return from that holiday a steady stream of post began to arrive for me. Each envelope embossed with a royal crest. Despite what the letter from some minor equerry or lady in waiting said, I doubt very much that the Princess of Wales was ‘most interested’ in my dress design for her (a rather fetching black and white polka dot number on a toilet tissue fabric). But it kept me occupied for a while (probably my mum’s intention all along!).

These royal letters, along with college letters from friends, letters from family, cards from significant birthdays and a pile of postcards from near and far are all stashed in a box in my study. I’m hoping that one day (when some e-bug has wiped Facebook/blog records, that this collection might contribute to future generations understanding of life during the late twentieth/early twenty first century. Although if my box of memoirs is all they’ve got to go on, it will be a very particular ‘rainbow tinted’ take it on history.