sent from: London, UK. destination: Encino, California, USA

Dear Tom, How are you? My name is Juan-Luis. I enjoy your podcasts which I listen to every week. The solo ones are great, I love how you spin out a story. I know you want to be called a humorist – dare I suggest raconteur as well? I like to tell stories too. I write what you’re reading right now – postcards. I write one every day and send it into the world. I scan it and put it on my blog (blog.juanluis.com). Sometimes they’re little snippets, stuff I see on the train, silly stuff. I also write a lot about my work as a visual effects artist in movies. Sometimes I write things like this:

There’s a small public park opposite my flat. In England they call it a Common, or a Green. It’s irregularly wedge-shaped, like a piece of pizza cut by a drunkard. One morning there was a mother and daughter at one end. It was early. The girl set off running, she was maybe six or seven years old. I thought she was running like a kid would run, after a dog or a kite or a balloon, but none of those things were in her path. She was purposeful, determined, and stuck to the edges. She got to the branches of a low hanging tree and crouched down, still running. She could have gone around them. Her mother glanced at her watch. She was training. I wondered what a six year old could be doing to require such a regimen. The girl got to one end and started on the curve back. Her mother waved to her. “I’m still here,” she seemed to be saying. “And if you don’t make this lap in under three minutes, it’s back to the dungeon with you.” I don’t know about that, I just made that up.

Well, Tom, there you go. I hope you enjoyed it. Best wishes, Juan-Luis