Of letters and letter openers

I have a habit of checking the mailbox almost every day, a habit that my wife finds irritating. Perhaps that is motivation enough to continue doing it! But the habit actually stems from my childhood. Back then,  going to the US was a big deal and any gift from the far off land meant it had to be valued and savoured. So, chocolates from abroad were not to be distributed to friends but were to be devoured alone and a souvenir was to be placed neatly in the showcase in drawing room. An uncle who used to frequent US got my father a rather uncommon gift from one of his trips abroad- a letter opener