I was reading on Sue’s website how Americans think Vegemite is uniquely Australian. It’s not really and it’s not a must-have daily item for most Aussies either.
Anyhow, my brain turned full circle to the topic of penfriends.
Remember them? Young readers probably have no idea what I’m talking about.
I had some penfriends in the 80s, before mobile phones and email, including one in Iceland. Vegemite triggered my recollection of her because I sent her some once, and she sent me dried fish in reply (apparently that’s the big thing in Iceland).
Her name was Amelia Graves and if she reads this, courtesy of Google, I’d love to hear from her.
We met over the telephone when I was 21 in 1988. My mate Damien and I had enjoyed a few drinks one night and decided to randomly dial overseas phone numbers. We were at his house, so he was paying for it and I never saw the bill
We tried to think of exotic faraway places and somehow chose the Faroe Islands. The first couple of people we spoke to didn’t know English, so we gave up that idea and tried Iceland.
Amelia not only spoke English very well; she humoured us with good conversation and we became friends.
Her father was American, hence the name and the command of English.
We exchanged letters for a year or more before I moved away and lost contact.
I had earlier met a Zimbabwean girl in Alice Springs and we became penfriends when she lived for a while in England and later returned to Zimbabwe. I visited her there in 1991 and we caught up with each other again last year when I found she was living in Kalgoorlie.
My life was enriched by these experiences. It is possible to make friends through blogging, but instant electronic communications are nowhere near as intimate as a letter.
