If you were going to send a love letter to someone, how would you go about making sure they would definitely see it? Perhaps you would hand-deliver the letter, making sure that it got to where you wanted it to go. Maybe you would post it in a perfumed envelope, in order to remind them of your scent. Or, if you were super 21st century, you could email it to them. However, the one thing that you absolutely shouldn't do is launch it into the sea, hoping that it magically finds it's way to its intended destination.
70 per cent of the Earth's surface is water. So, if you want something to go somewhere, it's probably best not to throw it out into a vast open landscape where it will float around for years before washing up somewhere random, or just drift back to the beach from whence you threw it. However, this is exactly what one hopeless romantic/idiot did.
Elissa Wilson was out cleaning up her local beach when she came across what she is calling a "wee piece of magic." The 58-year-old found a bottle containing a romantic love letter and has since launched a worldwide investigation to find the woman behind the note.
The letter, which was placed inside a mini whiskey bottle, was penned by a woman called Sarah, who wrote about celebrating her first wedding anniversary with her partner.
It's believed that it comes from the Isle of Skye, more than 200 miles from where Sarah found in South Ayrshire, UK. However, it is not known when it was written as it wasn't dated.
Elissa said: "We do a beach litter pick every week.
"Every time it’s been glorious weather but that day it was wet and windy, it was pretty horrible.
"We were picking the beach and we were about to knock off. It’s a mini whisky bottle and the message inside is in red, that’s what must’ve caught my eye.
"The message only said it was thrown from Skye but they might not be from there.
"It’s come a fair old way down the west coast from Skye."
Elissa shared the note on Facebook in hope that she'd be able to hunt down Sarah and it has now been shared over 1,000 times. While she doesn’t feel comfortable making the full contents of the note public, part of it reads:
"Today in celebration of our first wedding anniversary, I write you this love note in a bottle
"In celebration of our love of the outdoors and for this love for both to last forever, we throw it into the sea from Skye, Scotland."
Elissa said:
"I’ve not published the whole note.
"She’s [Sarah] made it public by throwing it in the sea but it’s a private note, it’s all a wee mystery.
"Her lover could be a man or woman and it’s not got a date on it so it could from a week ago or years ago.
"I think I will find Sarah, it would be a nice feeling to send it to her.
"It’s the first time I’ve found something like that, most things are quite disgusting.
"It was a wee bit of magic on a miserable day. It was just a lovely find.
"It’s sitting on my kitchen window sill and will stay there until it’s claimed."
Hopefully, Sarah can be reunited with her note. Next time she wants to send something, she should try using the mail system, it tends to work a little bit better.