Communication in the 60's was normally by snail mail and telegram for speedier transmission. But, as compared to the present, mail then reached its destination in three days within the province or six days to and from Manila. Today, double those figures or more. The telephone had not penetrated yet the rural areas thus snail mail was the convenient means for ordinary folks like me.
Having pen pals was the craze of that era and I was no exception. Why not? A ten centavo postage stamps were enough to deliver my letters to my pen pals anywhere in Greater Manila Area, the term then for what became the present Metro Manila. How I enjoyed writing and reading
many letters from my pen pals! It was an indescribable pleasure and experience for a simple provincial boy like me!
Having pen pals was the craze of that era and I was no exception. Why not? A ten centavo postage stamps were enough to deliver my letters to my pen pals anywhere in Greater Manila Area, the term then for what became the present Metro Manila. How I enjoyed writing and reading
many letters from my pen pals! It was an indescribable pleasure and experience for a simple provincial boy like me!
Exchanging letters with my pen pals was not enough for me. I was adventurous and daring to travel alone to Greater Manila Area for the purpose of meeting my pen pals in person. Luck smiled at me for I succeeded to see my long haired pen pal living in a convent at Taft Avenue, Pasay (not a city then). However, my search for my pen pal in Sta. Cruz, Manila, was a failure. While I was walking that area looking for her address, a stranger suddenly struck me on the nape. Ignoring him, I hurried away to avoid further trouble in a place I was unfamiliar with.
Nevertheless, I continued my pen pal activities in other parishes where my priest-guardian was assigned. A student in the parochial school where I enrolled tickled my interest. I tried to impress her with letters written in flowery English with the aid of a Thesaurus. Naturally, she was turned off as she found it hard to understand my letters which I learned from my classmates who were her acquaintance. After I got engaged to my future wife in the next parish assignment of my guardian, pen pals were no longer my fancy. Exchanging love letters with my wife took my time in the next parish assignment of my guardian.
When I decided to try my luck in the metropolis, I discovered the wonders of the telephone in my aunt's house. I gladly appointed myself the telephone operator relishing every moment of answering every call. Even upon reporting to work, I always found time to telephone at my aunt's home just for the heck of it. What an experience for a provincial boy who was finding a place in the concrete jungle of Greater Manila Area!
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