For the Love of Letters

‘The pen is jealous of company. It expects, as I may say, to engross the writer’s whole self.’

When someone talks and you go ‘Hmmm, mmmm’, you’re being phatic – displaying a sort of primal animal sympathy; saying, in effect, ‘Keep going, I’m still here’, even though mentally you may be a hundred miles away.

The Joy of Nothing

wouldn’t it be brilliant if we all wrote really rich, detailed letters to each other, which we kept as physical artefacts to pass on to future generations?

The pen is jealous of company. It expects, as I may say, to engross the writer’s whole self.’

Cost: £14.50 for 50 sheets of 10” x 8”. The starburst in my chest felt like love.

What are you doing? Send a sodding email. I haven’t got all night.

The pen is jealous of company. It expects, as I may say, to engross the writer’s whole self

word ‘phatic’? It’s the word linguistics experts use to describe speech which establishes a mood of

Stop worrying. Just get on with it.