Letters. They are the reason most writers start writing, used to start. . Haven't people told you that you write wonderful letters? You have to be - had to be - careful, not to write out all your best thoughts to mail away. Not everyone saves other peoples' letters, you know. Oh, and that's another thing, with the demise of mail. Books, volumes, of letters have been published revealing relationships, insights, undercurrents, and even gossip of the time. Where will they be now? Nowhere, that's where. That isn't the post office's fault. that's because 140 characters in a Twitter don't allow for many insights. To my knowledge, no one has published a serious book of Twitters, not yet. IMHO a book of shortcuts won't cut it. Have you noticed that rude business people, working in whatever medium, don't even use email or Twitter to reject or discuss your proposals? Since when is silence a suitable response? You'd think they could at least have a permanent signature on their computer so they could push one key and say, "Stuff it." Sorry, I'm just going to get mad again. The trigger of my explosion of was the prediction that the post office will disappear in my/our lifetime. It's going to affect so many people, already has. Mindsets will change as has lifestyle already. SOW - I guess I can go on to something else that is related - was related - to mail: the cheque. Perhaps you had better save one from your current no doubt meagre supply, because when it's obsolete it may be a collector's item. The disappearance of the cheque signals another change in lifestyle. More anon.

What about people who don't answer their mail, even email? It goes beyond rudeness; it's not even good business and oh, the ill-will a non-reply generates! I was trained early on to enclose an SSAE (stamped, self-addressed envelope) or an SSAPC (stamped, self-addressed postcard) to assure me that my message (often a manuscript, more usually a query) had arrived safely - ever conscious of the mail-eating mailboxes. But even with the stamp and the address already written out, the recipients or their assistants seemed to have trouble finding the mailbox. Maybe they knew something I didn't know. So after a while I'd send something inquiring as to the whereabouts of my query, with another stamp. Still nothing. I wrote one a.d. at a theatre saying if I'd known they were that short of funds I'd have sent more stamps. This one had the courtesy and humour to write back saying he had torn the stamp off my postcard and written his grandmother. But he didn't comment on my submission. After several attempts to rouse a response from another director, I actually met him at a post-production party i attended with one of the actors in his show. When I was introduced to the guy I handed him a stamp (I had some in my purse), and identified myself further. He had the grace to look abashed (not many people can do that) but he still didn't write and he didn't accept my play, either. Several agents have told me that Canadian theatres are the worst of all in their ignoring of playwrights and their agents. If it weren't for the grants, they would ignore us completely. As it is, most Canadian theatres (well, not the theatres, you know, but the directors, dramaturges et. al) - most of them wish we were American, Shakespeare or dead. I digress. This is a rant, and it's supposed to be a requiem for the dying post office. Some people won't even know it's gone.