Forget status updates, just write me a letter.

Today reminded me of the famous quote by Henry Ford of which fellow aviators will be familiar: "When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the aircraft takes off against the wind, not with it."

It was a Monday I'd like to forget. A domino effect of one thing after another resulting in a testing day, but one I'll look back on to appreciate the great days even more in the future.

I'm eschewing Facebook for the time being after experiencing a notable shift away from the positivity and fun of sharing our social activities to a generally critical vibe, which leaves me tempted to delete my account entirely if it weren't for wanting to keep in touch with so many of my friends and family living abroad.

We live in a fast-paced digital world where every update is instantaneous and every syllable open to interpretation, often in the wrong way. When did it become acceptable for friends to have full on lengthy conversations on text messaging (which I hate when a normal conversation would be much more suitable) and make frantic phone calls whilst doing the weekly shop, half listening/half trying to decide whether to have sausages or fish for supper...it all seems so uncivilised.

I long for a time where people wrote each other cards and letters just because (I still do regularly and so does my mum as you can see from my Blip photo today, and so do a handful of literary-minded friends but we are sadly in the minority).

You can't beat the surprise of an unexpected letter arriving from a friend or relative sometimes with a photo that says 'I saw this and thought of you'. That's the stuff memories are made of, a trinket to cherish in a shoe box for a rainy day whether that's a week later or 50 years' away.

I long for a time when we took long walks to talk through our problems and telephoned each other whilst sat in a comfy chair and not whilst driving to an appointment or whilst making the dinner or changing baby's nappy.

I am going to use this time out to concentrate on my freelance business without distraction and look forward to the free time to give me greater clarity of mind and hopefully a chance to read one of the many books piled up by my bed.

In comparison, I'm so grateful to the Blip community with its wonderfully positive vibe and it's so nice to be able to 'exercise' the writing muscle in a freely creative manner outside the day job of drafting press releases, writing SEO friendly copy and sharp snappy headlines.

I'm off to escape with my copy of Lucy Dillon's One Hundred Pieces of Me and hopefully a decent night's sleep for the first time in a week to forget about the upsets of today.

Thank you to my fellow Blippers for your lovely comments and taking the time to read my random ramblings...For some reason my replies don't always work but bear with me and I will work out why!

See you for a brighter day tomorrow.