WHEN I was a young mum in the late 1950s-early 1960s, living about 30 miles from the rest of our families, my mother-in-law in her 70s without fail, however busy she was, would write me a very colourful description of what she’d been doing, the neighbours and what she’d been doing helping her daughter’s family etc.

She would then stick a twopenny ha’penny stamp on it and it would drop through our letterbox next morning in time for my to read it with my breakfast.

How lovely was that?

I would reply a day or so later, posting in a box close to home where there was also a phone box, should I need to make a call. How convenient was that?

Now, at the age of 85, I am working out how to take my blood pressure on my newly acquired machine and email the results via my mobile to the doctor’s surgery as requested.

Sometimes I do wonder if anyone else would like to return to the days when we had to chop the sticks to light the fire on a cold morning – no central heating, no mobiles, two post deliveries a day, a reliable milkman etc.

GILLIAN A TIMONEY

Montacute Way, Wimborne