Not everybody is a fan of Facebook I know – but one of its advantages is that every now and again it will bring up memories of things you posted about on the same day years before.

This week a memory came up for me of something I had written six years ago. It was about how happy I had felt to receive a letter that morning in the post. The letter had been from a friend of mine and had totally cheered up my day. I don’t know about you – but it has felt to me for a long time that the only letters that ever drop on the doormat these days are adverts or bills. I certainly don’t find myself running to the door when I hear the postman arrive. In fact I know of young people who have never in their lives received a handwritten letter in the post. That makes me feel quite sad.

Although I don’t consider myself to be particularly old, my own childhood was before text messages and emails – so letters at that time were far more common. At school we were encouraged to have penfriends from different countries. I remember being given a form to fill in allowing me to choose whether I wanted to be in touch with a boy or a girl and the country I wanted them to be from.

There was nothing more exciting than a letter arriving from half way across the world from someone you had never met and a country you could only dream of one day visiting.

Whilst communication these days is much faster and more efficient – one of the downsides is that all these electronic messages get lost. Text messages and emails disappear into space and no permanent record is left of them. All of this means that receiving a real letter becomes just as valuable as getting a present. It takes around twenty seconds to fire off a text message or email to someone. But sending a letter requires care, consideration and time. Just think about the effort involved. You need to find the right paper and envelope, write the letter itself, find a stamp and make sure it gets into a post box. You might ask yourself why on earth anyone should go to all that trouble when almost everyone has access to email and social media and can fire off a message to anywhere in the world in a few seconds. My answer is for exactly that same reason. In a world which now expects us to communicate immediately and electronically – writing a letter is not only forcing yourself to slow down a bit, it is also a really easy way to make someone feel special. And it feels special exactly because it’s no longer what we normally do.

My ten-year-old daughter asked me the other day what I most wanted for Christmas. I wasn’t able to think of anything at all – quite apart from the fact that the last thing I would want is for her to spend her few pounds of pocket money on presents for me. Then I thought to myself that the one thing I would love to receive from her is a letter.

It would cost her nothing in money, but it would require a little time and effort to prepare. It would also be something permanent I could keep and would at the same time capture a little portion of her childhood for ever.

So this week, may I pass on to you the idea of writing a letter to someone you care about? It doesn’t have to be long or full of flowery words and sentiments. You certainly don’t have to be a gifted writer to make it meaningful. It will be the fact that you took the time to write and send that will matter the most.

Most people, especially in these oddly isolating corona times, want more than ever to feel remembered and cared about. Sending a letter is a really easy way to achieve that. By going to the trouble of writing a personal letter which is delivered in amongst all the adverts and bills you might just be the person who makes someone else’s day.