Brian Holden: Nostalgic times as bells ring out

I love the reinstated bells at the old post office clock tower. Photo / Brian Holden

Hello what's this?" I asked myself as I walked out of the public library on Thursday morning. It was the sound of bells ringing from the old post office tower on the corner of Fenton and Arawa streets.

"Ah, that's right".

I had read in the newspaper about them being brought back out of their 30-year retirement, but it didn't actually ring home at the time. But there they were - proof of that great news was ringing loud and clear, right on the stroke of 10 o'clock. Funny how you count the number of strikes - just to check - even though the clock's hands are showing the hour of the day clearly as you look up.

I love bells, and hearing these five brass beauties ring in our city once again is music to my ears. Well done to those responsible in getting them up and running after so long.

Okay, ask yourself. When did you last hand-write a letter, put it in an envelope and post it? Or for that matter, when did you last receive one? With emails being the much preferred and practical way to send messages, once thriving suppliers of conventional letter writing materials, have had to either adapt, or shut shop. Croxley Stationery is closing its Auckland factory and moving from being a wholesaler with locally made products, to being a wholesaler only. More than 100 staff have just been given the bad news - by hard copy letters in sealed envelopes no doubt - that the writing's on the wall.

Croxley in New Zealand goes back almost 100 years, producing our well-known brands including Olympic, Warwick and Collins. It's the old story, with the availability of cheaper imported products, as well as the higher foreign exchange rate affecting export products. But of course the decline in physical mail and reduced demand for traditional paper-based office products had also played a huge part, with emails replacing envelopes and writing pads. As occupants of the And Another Thing household, we are delighted to say that we have broken the email trend by special request and written a one-off letter to someone. A little lady who normally gets texts and emails from us has received what could well be (apart from cards) one of her first printed letters, with photos on actual paper. Sure, it took a lot more work that what it would have if sent as an attachment, but to see the delight on the young recipient's face made it all worthwhile.

We've come a long, long way since the dark old days of the 50s and 60s when pen and ink was the only option, and schools were strict in enforcing the use of "proper" pens rather than ballpoint. Dare I say, erasers were generally prohibited when pencils were used. And Twink - what was that? I am giving away my age, declaring that I remember even further back, using a nib pen that you dipped in a ceramic inkwell held in a hole in your desk.

The class "monitor" would do the rounds of all the classrooms with a huge bottle of ink, filling up the inkwells where required. Fast forward a decade and along came the fountain pen where users had to pull a little lever on the pen, allowing the rubber receptacle inside to draw in the ink. Conway Stewart or Parker were the pens to be "seen using". Once you scratched your essay painfully, word for word, there was the mandatory process of laying blotting paper over your work to soak up any excess ink. Hats off to Laszlo Jozsef Biro, the inventor of the ballpoint pen that has made the life of writers world-wide so much easier for the last 40 years. Oh how times have changed with the written word, and in most cases for the better. But nothing will replace the beautiful scribe created from liquid ink that comes from a traditional nib. And to see the look on our young lady's face when she read the hard copy letter posted from us, reassures us that despite emails and texting being the norm, posted letters are here to stay.

• Brian Holden has lived in Rotorua for most of his life and has recently celebrated 10 years' writing And Another Thing.