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

I'm loving all the side debate!
Can you tell gender by handwriting?
Are you being controlled if your spouse opens your mail even though you've agreed? In fact are you lazy if you let them! 🤔
Is a certain everyday phrase racist?
What fun thread!

Sex, not gender. Just to add to the tangent...

What an odd thing for work to do. Does he know company well enough to say I thought I had a stalker and my wife thought I was having an affair can you attach a business card/compliments slip next time. If husband usually works away regularly then in makes sense to open post with his permission not odd at all.

"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"

Yes, and also when they get to a certain age it can get a bit shaky.

Fuck me there are some miserable bastards on here. Thanks for the entertainment OP, loved the update.

@Dixiechickonhols

What an odd thing for work to do. Does he know company well enough to say I thought I had a stalker and my wife thought I was having an affair can you attach a business card/compliments slip next time. If husband usually works away regularly then in makes sense to open post with his permission not odd at all.

Does he really want to tell his work, where his relatives also work remember, that his DW was so quick to suspect him of an affair?

@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.

And nationality can be sussed too. Americans (USA) and French have an identifable 'house style'

"And nationality can be sussed too. Americans (USA) and French have an identifable 'house style"

Yes, this has been covered above.

Someone I know was once sent an anonymous letter. I was able to tell them immediately that the handwriting meant the writer was probably south East Asian.

Japanese, Philippino, Indonesian people (and to an extent Indian too) have a very distinct way of writing in the English alphabet that is immediately recognisable to me from years of working with Asian people. Very tiny, very neat, very uniform, with quite distinct letter shaping that is quite unlike how most British people write.

@notacooldad you forgot to mention Jehovah Witness

notacooldad you forgot to mention Jehovah Witness
Amazingly the JWs are the least controversial thing about this thread!!

I'm chuckling at the people up thread who claimed to have received the same. A couple of posters claimed "I had one of these" and announced it from JW.
Why lie? Why say you've had the same as OP when what you received was clearly different? Very strange.

@Crazybirdlady

It refers to us barbarians in Ireland, outside of Dublin which was once known as the Pale.
So if something is beyond the pale, it was outrageous, uncivilised. Something you would expect from Irish Catholics.

Well, you shouldn't make assumptions, Crazybirdlady. Barbarians outside of Dublin like those in the whole Irish half of my family - Irish Catholics, btw - ?

I recently had this eye test at the opticians. You hold the paper at the position you usually have a book for reading & then say which paragraph is easiest to read - they used it to see if your eyes were getting more long sighted, to check that your glasses prescription was ok for reading.

@Svalberg

I recently had this eye test at the opticians. You hold the paper at the position you usually have a book for reading & then say which paragraph is easiest to read - they used it to see if your eyes were getting more long sighted, to check that your glasses prescription was ok for reading.

Really ? OMG

We have just had one of these letters too OP. Handwritten envelope, addressed to both of us, and photocopied letter inside. Loads of spelling mistakes, we live in troubling times, blah blah blah. Went straight in the shredder.

I recently had this eye test at the opticians. You hold the paper at the position you usually have a book for reading & then say which paragraph is easiest to read - they used it to see if your eyes were getting more long sighted, to check that your glasses prescription was ok for reading.

I've done a fair few of these, but I don't remember the actual text being quite so literary!

Opening OP's scan on my phone, I couldn't see that the text was of varying sizes. Also thought the tiny print was an A3 to A4 photocopy. Now realise that it was from an opened up A5 booklet. Very strange not to put any sort of covering note in with it.

OP you are a SAINT for staying calm amid the ridiculously sanctimonious/arsey shite on here from some posters. Hilarious and relieving end to a very entertaining thread! Glad all ok with you :-)

@MrsWindass It was the final test after about 5 hours over 3 days in the opticians to check comfort for reading, not the only test - sorry if I gave that impression!

Mine have been after a standard eye test to see if I needed varifocals. Sadly, I do. I'm sure most mumsnetters a far to young to have seen these!

@JulesJules

We have just had one of these letters too OP. Handwritten envelope, addressed to both of us, and photocopied letter inside. Loads of spelling mistakes, we live in troubling times, blah blah blah. Went straight in the shredder.

You've had an eye test letter from an employer in Tyneside? Are you sure?

how do you do an eye test at home?

just say yeah i can read it even if you cant-seems like a waste of time

Lol. Obvs hadn't seen OP's update re: eye test. Mine was definitely one of the JW letters

I was given a similar page to read thinking about it at recent eye test I was so pleased I could see it perfectly and didn’t need varifocals Mid 40s that I didn’t pay much attention to words.
Depending how well he knows them most workplaces would find it funny I’d have thought.

Ask him???

That’s good communication and maybe the truth will come out