Brain rot from doom-scrolling? Try writing letters like Frederick the Great

Why I'm nostalgic for a bygone age of conversation

Depiction of Frederick the Great at his desk.

When I got home late one evening this week, I found a mysterious brown parcel tucked behind my wheelie bin. I hadn’t ordered anything as far as I could remember – although that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Imagine my delight a few weeks ago when I’d completely forgotten that I’d ordered a Lego advent calendar on a whim and it arrived just in time for December!

Intrigued, I took the parcel in and had a closer look. My name and address had been written by hand. I opened it and found an advance copy of a book. As I turned it around to read more about its content, a letter fell out. It was neatly folded and hand-written on thick, embossed writing paper. I smiled. Who writes actual letters these days?