But PostCrossing is a game of anticipation.

Of course, the messages are not urgent, anyway. Some correspondents don't really want to chat - they want to get pretty new stamps or just be able to boast receiving a huge number of postcards. And why not - I'm an old stamp collector myself. But I love it when perfect strangers are eager to share snippets of their lives - and it's a refreshing change from the "Whassup? C U at lunch" that's blinking on my cellphone.

Yvonne wrote from the Netherlands recently:

Dear Mike, This card shows a moment from our Queen's Day we celebrate each year ... Most of the Dutch ride bikes. My family goes to a windmill every two months to buy our own flour, so we can bake our own bread.

Annette in Chicago sends a postcard with a picture of a 1966 Pony Mustang, which she and her husband bought for their son when he turned 16. The car is a beauty, and she says the proud owner, now 30, still drives the car in good weather.

Some of the most fun cards come from people who have taken the trouble to study my profile. Fei is from China, learning how to turn seawater into electricity as a PhD candidate in the Netherlands, and hopes I have a fun life in Beijing. Cassidy from Kentucky sends a big card with a 1960s advertisement image for Spam "as good as ham!" - she's sure I'm old enough to remember (and she's right). Katya sends a picture postcard of red wine from Finland, which she knows I like "but I can't help but comment that it looks like a drink for a vampire (blood)!"