On a country road intersection I pass from time to time there is a large collection of letterboxes.

They start me thinking.

Why won’t the postie go down the road? Is it dangerous?

Does a monster live down there?

Is the postie very fussy about keeping his car clean and won’t go down a dirt road?

Is it too far to the end?

Are the people who live down there horrible?

Do the letterboxes match the houses? Do the letterboxes match their owners?

What do the people who live down the road do? Are they friendly with each other? Do they play and work together? Or are they grumpy and keep to themselves?

What is in the letters that are in the boxes as I pass? Good news, like invitations to parties and prizes won, or bad news like speeding tickets, bills, death notices?

These are all beginnings for stories, which I begin to think up as I drive past.

Then another idea occurs to me. I could tell a story about each letterbox and the family that collects the letters from it. So there could be a story about ...

No 1. Pink, with a pointy roof and a tube for the paper. There are three girls in this family, two will only wear pink and are very good ballet dancers. The other wears blue jeans and keeps ferrets. They are entered in a ferret show next weekend, but there is also a ballet exam on then, and the car has broken down.

No 2. Rusty red box welded to an old crankshaft and on a bit of a lean. Bert and Hilda live at that address. Bert was a boxer and loves making things out of old stuff Hilda came from Holland when she was little. They met in a Heidelberg hotel.

No 3. The letterbox has come off its post and has a brick on top of a board to keep the rain out. No one has collected the mail for some time.

No 4. This letterbox is big and new on a strong post. It has a sparkling coat of white paint and some one has planted geraniums all around. The house belonging to this letterbox is also new and painted white. There is a team of gardeners putting down perfect lawns and perfect gardens surrounding a swimming pool and a tennis court.

No 5. This one is a fuel tank from a motorbike. It has a chrome lady on each side.

I’m still thinking up stories as I drive through the next town. One day I might use one or two of these ideas to write a book.

That is, if you don’t first ...