Boxing Day

Before I forget, anyone here regularly go to Buenos Aires? My least expected email of late was from some people who have written a guide to bookshops in Buenos Aires - if that meets a corner then have a gander here!

Now onto home territory - I thought I'd share a little purchase with you. Since I'm not buying books in Lent (which was particularly difficult when, in the same half hour, I came across a beautiful, signed book by Margaret Drabble for £3, and a ten-novels-for-ten-pounds boxset of Daphne du Maurier) I keep buying other things. Yes, I know, that's not really the point... but I went into the shop to get a Mothering Sunday present, honest. In fact I also bought a Mothering Sunday present, but I'll keep schtum on that for the meantime - Our Vicar's Wife (along with Our Vicar and, from a different direction, The Caron Copy) is coming on Saturday for my Graduation, and will be given her gift then.

So what did I buy?
For a long time I've been looking for a box to keep letters in. Yes, yes, I know - any old shoebox would do. In fact, the shoebox was my container of choice during my degree, the result of which was a revision mountain which resembled Clarks at stock-taking time. But letters are different. I already have a small cream box with roses, for letters from my Aunt Jacq. Pictured above is a beautiful old green/wooden box for 'general' letters, but my friend Barbara-from-Ludlow had no receptacle for her letters. And where to find such a thing? The rose box was from a wonderful shop in Worcester, The New England Store, but we moved house and neither Oxford nor Yeovil have anything quite the same. The old wooden box was nabbed whilst sorting donations to a village fete - yes, in Worcestershire (fear not, I made a donation). So what to do?

Ah, Arcadia, you faileth me not. I wrote about this shop a while ago, in my Oxford tour, and it is perfect for gifts. And gifts to myself. In amongst potential Mothering Sunday presents lay a beauty of a box, which just had to be mine. Not too pricey, either. Cheaper than the Mothering Sunday present, which made me feel justified.

We may have chatted about letter writing before - but remind me! Do you write real-life letters to anyone? Or just email? And are there special places you keep letters you receive? Personal ones, of course, rather than bills and bank statements. I love going back and reading through old letters, and surmising (or wildly guessing) at what might have been my words between each received missive...