#special letters

[weirdowithaquill]

Traintober 2023: Day 6 - Special Letters

A Tale of Two Brothers:

When Flying Scotsman left Sodor in 1967, he left behind two things: a number of new friends and a mailing address. Alan Peglar was planning on taking Scott around the world after all – sooner or later at least – and using his owner’s address as a jumping-off point, Scott hoped to be able to keep in touch with his brother and his friends. These letters would forever remain special to Gordon, and the other engines knew it.

“Where is your brother off to?” BoCo had asked one evening, knowing Gordon had just received an envelope. “Apparently, he’s going to America!” Gordon had said, having just listened to his driver recite the letter written by Scott’s crew.

Gordon worried for his brother – and rightly so. Over the next four years of his life, Alan Peglar would drag Flying Scotsman right the way across the continental United States and Canada, tiring the middle-aged engine out and bankrupting himself. Flying Scotsman’s last letter to Gordon in 1972 read as follows:

Dear Gordon,

I’m sorry to say, but Mr Peglar has run out of money. We tried San Francisco, but it was no use. Now, I am unsure what will happen to me. They have moved me to a United States Military Base, and everyday I see large, aggressive diesels growl around. They seem to think that they will be able to tow me off at some stage – and considering that Mr Peglar has had to leave, I worry they may be right.

The United States isn’t all bad though – the people are nice enough. Even the soldiers and sailors sometimes stop to talk to me… but it’s mostly to ask about England, and I never really do have an answer for them. What am I supposed to say? That I miss my home and I miss my brother who you are all keeping me from ever seeing again? The soldier who is writing this for me just looked at me curiously, so now I will have to explain to him who you are. I bet you’re more famous than I am here!

I do hope to make it back to you one day – though it may be a little longer yet. Mr Peglar is unable to pay to bring me home, and no one else has offered to yet… well, apart from one gentleman – but that’s just a rumour. Wishing you dry rails and smooth running,

Your Brother, 4472 Flying Scotsman

Gordon had sent multiple letters in return, each more frantic than the last – but heard nothing from his brother until mid-1973, when Scott had clanked his way from Liverpool to Derby. Gordon was waiting for him, and spent a solid hour chewing out his brother, and then another three crying with relief. Flying Scotsman was his last sibling left, and those letters were the last thing tethering the two together, when a country, or an ocean, or even a continent separated them.

Scott never missed another letter. Not even when he travelled to Australia, during a far more successful journey that saw the locomotive break records and rake in new fans. Still, he took time out of his day to ensure Gordon got a letter, even once begging an old lady in Alice Springs to lend him the stamps necessary.

In the 1990s, the pair switched to emails, though sometimes they still send letters – especially on important occasions. Christmas cards from Gordon to Scott fill the NRM engine shed; Mallard resents them all, but Scott wouldn’t change it for the world. And in return, Gordon gets a birthday greeting from his younger brother every year, the cards and letters all being carefully framed and stuck to the back wall of his berth.

All letters are special, no matter how mundane, simply because they were crafted by one person specially for the receiver.

Back to the Master Post

[thedandeliondyke]

Can we as a society have less acronyms? Not be like "technology is sorcery" or whatever, but yall are saying ISSMCH and FYCYCW and SMGC and expect me to know what that is and my brother in christ I thought you were just key board smashing

[demonio-fleurs]

To me, what is so fantastic about One Piece Fan Letter is the emphasis on the way the Straw Hats have created these connections in the lives of people they have never met. The ending scene, with all the hands putting together the puzzle pieces, and the way that all these connections came together in one dazzling way-- I loved that. I teared up at that. Wherever the Straw Hats go, they leave behind all of these puzzle pieces for people to put together and create bonds that would not have existed had the Straw Hats not shown up!

And it also just... Makes me so in love with the concept of the world after Luffy becomes King of The Pirates. I know that Oda has the final chapter planned in his head, and I doubt we will really see the long lasting effects of Luffy achieving the title of Pirate King + his dream, and I really do not want a sequel series ala Boruto or Yasahime, but.... I want to see a world in which children believe they can become a Brave Warrior of the Sea thanks to Usopp, I want to see more children look at Nami and realize they don't NEED to have a Devil Fruit or Haki or muscles to have adventures. I want to see the next generation of the One Piece world believe so strongly in their dreams, that they set out to accomplish them.

One Piece Fan Letter really opened the door, I think, for more and more stories about the "regular" people in the world of One Piece, the people you don't see in the arcs because they're the nondescript background characters, and how the Straw Hat Crew has changed them. And I want that. To me, that is fantastic.

[mightbebobbie]

wip of the one piece fan letter characters... ough how my heart aches for them

[galactic-rhea]

My partner and I came across that one dialog from the Obi-Wan Kenobi series (Obi-Wan answering Leia's question by 'I wish I were your father') and we ended rolling on the floor laughing at it because Nkjnsdfjknkjs what did you mean by that Obi-Wan LOL

Star Wars's has always had very silly dialogue but that bit feel so awkward nkJNKJSDF

(We still haven't watched the series btw I keep saying i'll and end distracted)

[apparently-artless]

"Nami-san, you're my hope. In this world where power is everything, even if I get hurt and trampled on, I still want to struggle, run, and live as freely as I can. I came to think that way thanks to you. I hope you continue to have wonderful adventures!"

ONE PIECE FAN LETTER (2024)

[forged-in-kaoss]

ONE PIECE FAN LETTER dir. Megumi Ishitani

[sanayeon]

SANA — TWICE: Ready To Be Special in Japan

[elphabasthropp]

BRIDGERTON (2020 -) | 3.01 Out of the Shadows

[kittencuddleclub]

good morning, i love you ┈༝༚༝༚♡ﾞ

[elennemigo]

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH | Letters Live Fundraising Event in Aid of The KOKO Foundation | London, England. Nov 7, 2024.

[dokjaism]

Link Click Appreciation Event - @linkclicknet

Day 6 ⟡ Favorite OP/ED: Dive Back In Time by 白鲨JAWS insp.

[zu-is-here]

Naive souls ♪( ´▽｀)

[cumberbatchcom]

📸 [GALLERY UPDATE] Benedict Cumberbatch onstage at the special Letters Live in aid of The KOKO Foundation. LINK

[befuddledcinnamonroll]

As much as I was not emotionally prepared for the end of episode 10 after the utter hell that was last week irl, I keep thinking about how well they constructed this episode.

I know there's a lot of varying opinions out there, but to me, when it came to the core themes, what happened made so much sense, and was crafted really, really well.

Like I couldn't give less of a shit about the ring and how it works, because it doesn't matter - there's always some bastard with power that he's abusing, and how he got it and who is going to get it from him next is irrelevant to those of us just trying to survive. They already spent plenty of time showing it's all a game, the ball has just changed hands. It very well could be a magic ring - just look at how people in real life worship and obey money, which is a creation of humanity, not an inherent truth. The point isn't for us to understand how the system works overall, but to see the ways that those of us lower down get manipulated into exhaustion and despair and self-punishment. That's what we need to know about the system - how it breaks us down.

What mattered with the episode was the escalation, the throwing of the crabs into the bucket where they start to pull and tear each other - and themselves - apart.

And it started early. It started when Jack & Joke saw Jennie's character being harassed, and did nothing. Because they thought they were ok, in their little couple bubble. But that's the whole point. It's not just about the two of them, it's about all of them, the collective community, and how none of them are safe even when it feels that way. How none of us are safe.

Jack and Joke both did things we didn't want to see them do, but those are the things the system is designed to draw out of them. Just look at those of us in the U.S. right now. We live in a country that was founded as a white supremacist patriarchal institution, and last week it worked exactly as it was designed to.

Yes, the angst in this episode hurt, but it had purpose here. Because this shit is insidious and horrible and devastating, and even our heroes are not immune to it.

But you know who is immune? Who sees what's truly happening? Who understands what needs to happen?

Hoy. Sweet innocent, baby Hoy.

Hoy gets it, and he convinced his cougar girlfriend, and she convinced the people in the temple. Because as horrific and insurmountable as it all feels sometimes, it is possible for holds of power to be broken, for an oppressor to be brought down.

But it has to be collective. It has to be community.

Jack and Joke are suffering because they are not special, they are not perfect. They are us.

But they will get there, because of what they've built in the community up to this point. And the community will come back for them.

[strawberrylind]

ponysona 💌🌱