My husband received something very strange in the post ...

[OnSilverStars]

In the post today, my husband received a letter. It was hand written with his name and address on the outside. No return info. The writing in the envelope is definitely a woman's

Inside is a copy of an "essay" I googled it and it's by Robert Louise Stevenson. It called "on Marriage"

The gist of it is that marriage has lots of ups and downs and requires communication

There is nothing else. No name, just a folded print out of this essay.

Any explanation, other than my fear? I have no reason other than this to suspect anything.

YABU - don't jump to conclusions

YANBU - he's cheated.

I'm shaking. This feels so surreal. I hope I'm overreacting. He's currently at work.

Ps. We open each other's post. We think nothing of it - usually. It's always junk or bills

Why the insults at the posters who were just trying to help you It could have as likely been dodgy as not . Not particularly grateful ..

I was talking to the people giving me shit for opening his mail and saying the woman's writing was a woman's. Those people need to get a new hobby

Oh right , yeah I don’t understand why people go on about random stuff like that not related to what you’re actually asking for advice about . Agree , that was annoying, I skipped passed all those ones ! x

@tara66

So is ''beyond the pale'' considered racists now or what?! Seems rather a stretch if it is.

Pale = old word for fence. If something is ' beyond the pale' it is beyond the boundaries, so something unacceptable. Nothing to do with skin colour.

I can't believe some of these women on here could even read their phone screen from their high fucking horse

How do you know they're women?

It is possible to be racist with no involvement of skin colour .anti -semitism ,gypsies etc .

Pale no doubt refers to a fence but The Pale refers to an area under British rule in Ireland
"The Pale was the name given to an area of Ireland under English rule and those outside that area were considered uncivilised aka 'beyond the pale'. "

@Fefifobum

Well that’s 10 mins I’ll never see again, what a load of shite!

The attitude still exists, to a lesser degree. A lot of people interpreted Ireland protecting its owns interests in the Brexit negotiations as ''awkwardness''. Obviously that is an extremely diluted version of the old ''beyond the pale'' attitude but if Ireland doesn't do what Britain wants it to do, it's not simply defending its own interests, it's playing silly buggers. This is a tabloid mindset I know.

@BettyAndVeronica

I would have been suspicious too OP. In fact, I would still be slightly suspicious. When I have had an eye test at work they didn't send out a photocopied essay on marriage.

100%

And letter opening is weird. Are you that nosy/is your partner that helpless that... You cant just leave it for them to do? It's controlling.😂😂😂😂😂
What a load of shite!!!!

So glad to see the update OP, that is hilarious (& the update had actually been posted long before my previous post:..I must pay more attention, hadn’t realised there were two pages of posts & can’t bear people who don’t RTFT & now that’s m.:”😳!!). Lovely conclusion to a thread anyway, made me smile :)

@Alicenwonderland

Great thread! Intrigue, suspense, confusion, mini debates irrelevant to the actual post, regular updates from the op and a happy, funny ending! After a thoroughly rubbish day this has cheered up my evening! Thanks op and glad it had a happy ending!

Yup, me too, excellent thread, cheered me up no end

Everytime my husbands work sends a letter its in a handwritten envelope? Never felt a need to find that weird.

I have just this very hour received a handwritten letter from an unknown JW with bible quotes and bumf!

It's in tiny curley old lady writing. I can say that as I'm an old lady .

@lidoshuffle

I have just this very hour received a handwritten letter from an unknown JW with bible quotes and bumf!

It's in tiny curley old lady writing. I can say that as I'm an old lady .

Wow, your diagnostic skills are at a whole new level - you've not only figured out the sex of the writer, but also their age, hair style AND height! 🤣

@CarrieMoonbeams

Yes, I'm sizeist, permist, ageist and sexist!

@OnSilverStars

I was talking to the people giving me shit for opening his mail and saying the woman's writing was a woman's. Those people need to get a new hobby

I’ve probably marked around 50000 pieces of extended written work in 20 years as an English teacher and I can usually tell the difference between boys’ / girls’ writing. You just can! Not sure what my accuracy statistic would be but I’d guess 90% of the time. The people saying you can’t are either unfamiliar with enough examples of writing to notice any patterns or are thinking it’s not PC to assume the sex. We had a mystery graffiti writer at one school and we nearly all agreed it was clearly a girl (which it was, when we caught her). Absolutely not having anyone tell me different when I’ve seen so much evidence to the contrary! Anyway, really glad this all ended well, OP!

😂 honestly OP!!!
this is mad.
I mean at least you know what it is!

[quote lidoshuffle]@CarrieMoonbeams

Yes, I'm sizeist, permist, ageist and sexist! [/quote]
And psychic!

I worked in a bank in the days when there was hundreds and thousands of hand written cheques to process every day. You can usually tell if it's male or female writing, and to a certain extent if it's an elderly person.

@Curlygirl06

I worked in a bank in the days when there was hundreds and thousands of hand written cheques to process every day. You can usually tell if it's male or female writing, and to a certain extent if it's an elderly person.

You can even distinguish old, middle aged, young, etc. Use of cursive, traditional styles, etc.

@Curlygirl06

I worked in a bank in the days when there was hundreds and thousands of hand written cheques to process every day. You can usually tell if it's male or female writing, and to a certain extent if it's an elderly person.

I used to work in a job that involved letters from elderly people, I'd say you'd have almost never have seen handwriting not to be able to identify an older person's writing.

And before any says that their 95 year old granddad writes like teenage girl I'm not saying that all old people write the same but ime no young person has handwriting like an elderly person.

My guess is that it's to do with the way writing was/is taught in school and the way letters are formed

[quote florascotia2]Well, 'the pale' is not particularly flattering to the majority of people in Ireland - it does by default rather define them as lawless and/or uncivilised.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pale

www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/beyond-the-pale.html[/quote]
Yes, but that's the original meaning, it's not how it's used by people now, is it?

@tisonlymeagain

Blimey, I never knew JW were so active in the community - I've not had one coming knocking since I was a child and never had one put a handwritten essay through my door. Wouldn't even cross my mind that it would be a JW!

You often see them stand in their streets with these display racks of magazines/books.

I'm pleased that this has been resolved for you and your DH, OP!

Let's hope whoever sends these eye tests out from your DH's work to other colleagues puts a letter or note in with them explaining what it's for, it would baffle me too!