Close friends and colleagues of mine can attest to my love for some good chalk and a quality chalkboard for brainstorming. Yes, it gets somewhat dusty and antagonises my preferred dark wool jerseys. However, standing at a chalk board, thinking through tough problems was how I got through my previous physics and mathematics coursework, and how I conduct much of my work today.

In a similar vein, I’ve recently rekindled the habit of writing with pen and paper. This practice was largely catalysed by my newfound obsession with fountain pens, and my desire to revise and refine my cursive handwriting again. My appreciation and excitement for stationery might have also been a pull factor here.

Another fun consequence of this is that I’ve started sending handwritten postcards to friends, family, and Postcrossing strangers. Last week was the first time I’ve walked into a post office to buy stamps in as long as I can remember. I’ve even designed and had my own postcard designs printed.

Handwriting is slowly becoming one of the hobbies that attenuates some of the current noise and perpetual chaos that is social media and The Current Thing™.

Reach out to me on Bluesky if you’d like to receive one of my postcards!

Yours, Duncan