The Round Robin
Keeping in touch
I’ve always been good at keeping in touch with people and I’ve always done most of my ‘keeping in touch’ in writing. In former decades handwritten letters were the order of the day. These gradually gave way to emails and – for those not online – typed letters sent through the post. I have been known to indulge in a bit of Skype-ing, but I prefer corresponding in print. I’ve collected more than a few contacts over the years, including the RAF children I went to primary school with and who were posted all over the UK and Europe during our childhoods; teachers and classmates from my secondary school years; university friends; teaching colleagues; and students I’ve taught from all six schools I worked in. That’s not to mention relatives in far flung corners of Britain and the world, former neighbours, people I’ve met on holiday, and the mother of the boyfriend I went out with in 1978/9. You get the picture.
The circular
My Christmas card list expands each year and I’m happy to touch base with people in this way. Writing out a card means I spend some time thinking about the recipient and and I enjoy that. Not all, but a good proportion of those I send a card to – the ones I don’t see from one year end to the next – I also write to at Christmas. Not least beacause I’ve found if you write to them, they write back to you, and hearing what people have been up to over the previous 12 months interests me. I’ve never been offended, as some people are, at receiving their news via a circular. It seems to me you have to be realistic. Finding the time to write individual, personalised Christmas letters in our time-pressured lives is impractical, and I’d rather receive something than nothing. I’ve also never felt that people’s accounts of their year, including where they’ve been, what they’ve done and what their children have done, are tantamount to gloating or bragging.
So here’s my problem
This year I’ve been immobilised on the letter-writing front thanks to author and poet Sophie Hannah. I’ve recently come across her satirical poem Round Robin (the full text can be found here). It starts like this:
Dear Distant Friends,
Surprisingly we’ve still got your addresses,
So here’s a list of all our latest triumphs and successes.
This year we’ve been as busy as a family of beavers
(Though they’re just furry animals, while we are high achievers.)
She goes on to mock the way the authors ‘Dorothy and Mick’ gloat about their high-flying children, expensive holidays and large house and how they might deign to write again next year subject to a bit of grovelling and sycophancy from their correspondents. It’s very funny and extremely caustic – and I’ve found I can’t write a single sentence as a result of having read it!
For round robin fans
If you’re a fan of the round robin and remain undeterred by any of this, you might like to sign up for the Teachers’ Pocketbooks version. I’ll write to you (and a couple of hundred others) 3 or 4 times a year (and occasionally - if you’re happy to hear from us this way – send an email). You’ll hear about new books and products, new developments, exhibitions we’re attending and special offers we’re running. I’ll try to keep the boasting to a minimum and promise not to show off unduly.
To join us, contact marketing@pocketbook.co.uk with your name, and address (and, if you wish, your email address) and say that you’re subscribing to our list as a result of reading this blog.
Happy Christmas!
Pocketbook Linda
