I have come to the conclusion that letters touch the soul - both when written and when received. After all, reading a letter is a completely emotional experience. Every person’s handwriting is different, just as is their DNA. A letter cannot be replicated (unlike an email). The ink smudges, the crossed out words, the creased sheets of paper, the stamp on the envelope. Every letter I have in my boxes is a one-off, never to be replicated. ..

As an editor and writer, and a woman who is constantly travelling, I have come to appreciate the joy of email, WhatsApp, Instagram and Wikipedia and how it keeps me close to those I love, in whatever far flung part of the globe they reside.  But I would be lying if I said I didn’t have regular pangs of nostalgia, for landlines, libraries and - most of all - letter-writing…