Today I noticed an Almond Tree blossoming and it reminded me of the annual letters I used to get from Dad during the 7 1/2 years I lived overseas. At the time Airmail letters were expensive to send and any going “Surface Mail” would take weeks and weeks to arrive so most people used “Aerogrammes” instead. From a normal envelope size they folded out. They were made of thin, blue paper and you had to be careful what you used to write with or the ink would bleed through and deprive you of the bit of space on the back.
I travelled, I married and had children and all my news reached my family by Aerogrammes because although they always had a phone at home I didn’t. Mum wrote every week and once a year Dad would write when the Almond Tree was in blossom.
Musings of a Retiring Person 
Thanks for sending me this link. I remember aerograms, and still have a few that my mother has saved. A couple of them survived a BOAC airline crash at Heathrow and arrived at our house with a stamp on the front that read ‘salvaged from aircraft accident London 8-4-68). The ink has run terribly on one, but the other is totally legible. The postage on the was ninepence!
I think it’s astonishing to have letters saved from a plane crash, hope the passengers all survived too 🙂
Sadly not. Four passengers and one member of the crew died. The crew member was a 22 year old stewardess who stayed on the aircraft to help a disabled passenger. She was awarded the George Cross posthumously for her bravery.
What a sad story.
Isn’t it. I researched it a couple of years ago when I found the letters. I’m still moved to tears by the thought of such a young woman losing her life trying to save others.