Graphic Props / Sealed With a Loving Kiss from Going Postal

I read Terry Pratchett's Going Postal recently, and not surprisingly, it got me thinking about post. I like his idea of letters being like "little packets of history" and the fact that you can seal a letter with a "loving kiss" or whathaveyou. I've been lucky enough to read old postcards my relatives wrote decades ago - about their travels and their work and their romances! - and it makes me think that perhaps we lost something when we moved to emails and DMs.

That said, I wrote an actual, physical letter to a friend recently and was swiftly reminded of why the post is often called "snail mail," so I suppose there's a balance to be had between sentiment and efficiency! And of course, not every message is worth preserving either.

Some memories, though, are certainly worth preserving, which leads me to one of the most memorable lines in Going Postal: "A man is not dead while his name is still spoken." So, with that in mind; the book not only reminded me how much I appreciate the late Sir Terry Pratchett and his novels, but it also made me think of my grandad, who died a few years ago, just after Christmas. His name was Eamon, and he worked in the post office.

Anyway; this letter is something of a hero prop in Going Postal, the first letter delivered by the Ankh-Morpork Post Office in forty years or so. I made it just for fun, and because I wanted an excuse to practice some handwriting and use my stamps (this particular letter was sent before the paper stamp was in use, and the old Ankh-Morpork post office apparently always had a bit of a problem with people making forgeries using half-potato stamps, so messy-ish was the goal!).