Just visiting my folks on the Isle of Man for the weekend and mam showed me a letter I’d written to dad dated 2nd March 1975. We were in the process of moving to the island from Caernarfon. Dad had gone on ahead whilst we finished the school term.
The letter was written in formal schoolboy Welsh and I note that my handwriting is still as bad as it was then!
I guess my observation is that I had to write dad a letter in those days. He was living in rented accommodation with no telephone. It was before the days of mobile telephony and tinterweb. That’s unimaginable for a kid these days.
I recall that at the end of that spring term in Ysgol Segontium, Caernarfon we had exams. When I arrived at Ballakermeen High School in Douglas they were about to have exams! A serious bummer for a 13 year old kid. I sat the exams and fwiw came 3rd in class without having done the syllabus (breathes on fingernails and polishes them on lapel). It all went downhill from there:).
The photo is a panoramic view gazing out to sea from the breakwater in Peel, Isle of Man. Paradise on earth and one of my favourite places.
2 replies on “letter from 1975”
When my daughters went to university in the 80s/early 90s they wrote home every week too. A phone call was a rarity because there were no mobiles around then, and students couldn’t afford call boxes. We only saw the girls once or twice a year. Its all different now, we meet up every day for a few minutes on skype, we text, send photos, chat. It is lovely to get a letter now and then from the odd luddite friend like the health service or government, but I much prefer instant digital communication. I love the fact that extended family all over the world can keep in touch so effectively and once you have an internet connection its all free, no stamp needed…
Yes e-mail is very much easier and quicker than letter writing and has without doubt made life easier but I can’t be doing with the social network stuff, I tried it but didn’t like it.
Nice picture by the way, another place you may like to visit with equally stunning views is Brittas Bay, County Wicklow in the Republic of Ireland, one of my favourite places