9 Comments
User's avatar
Rafael Concepcion's avatar

Hi, luv, sorry I’m so late to this party. As ever, I enjoyed this post immensely, and a number of things stand out. First, I don’t recall writing business-type letters when I was in secondary school. Maybe the school board thought we were too stupid or something, so why bother including it in the curriculum. Second, and don’t take this the wrong way, but your penmanship bears a striking similarity to that of my late mother. I don’t think they even teach cursive writing in schools in the USA anymore. Third, I simply cannot believe that you weren’t getting invited to all the parties you could handle. I think you were just too busy working bonkers hours cranking out stories and novels and you thought teen parties were a waste of time. And lastly, just think if you had really owned that stylophone gadget and it was still in working order. Your recent rodent problem would have been solved in no time flat. It’s 6:43 AM here in New York, so I’ll just skip the nitey-nite and say have a happy Saturday, luv!

Expand full comment
Fiona Gibson's avatar

Letter writing did seem to be a crucial element of 1970s UK education. But then we never seemed to cover the obvious things - like the Brontes (who grew up 5 miles from my Yorkshire school) and Robert Burns (fairly close when we moved to Ayrshire, Scotland) were rarely - if EVER - even mentioned. I know nothing of them! Obviously, receiving a satisfactory refund for a bust Stylophone was considered to be of far great importance...

Expand full comment
Kirsty's avatar

Love these, very similar to my school handwriting! Does yours look anything like that now?

Expand full comment
Fiona Gibson's avatar

Not remotely like it! It's appalling now as I type so much. I've lost the ability x

Expand full comment
Kirsty's avatar

Mine too, we've not as much time to take care of our hand written efforts now :-(

Expand full comment
Moy Lewis-Logie's avatar

Nice handwriting x

Expand full comment
Fiona Gibson's avatar

Why thank you!

Expand full comment
Wendy Varley's avatar

Was your school trying to steer you towards a career in customer services, Fi?!

Expand full comment
Fiona Gibson's avatar

Ha - I think they must've been. I know your mum kept absolutely everything - mine didn't, so am curious as to why these precious items were carefully filed away!

Expand full comment