More than two decades ago, a 10-year-old schoolgirl threw a bottle into the sea off the coast of Hull as she embarked on a family holiday, hoping to get a response from a stranger in a faraway land.
Inside the bottle was a scrawled letter from Zoe Lemon, a youngster with a love of "ballet, playing the flute and the piano", who had just boarded a ferry bound for a holiday in Germany.
She told her prospective recipients of her pet hamster and fish, both called Sparkle, and her parents who were both teachers.
Miss Lemon, of Salford, Greater Manchester, soon forgot about her act of whimsy, eventually marrying and having a child herself.
But this Christmas she was staggered to receive a reply after 23 years.
The bottle was discovered more than 350 miles away in the Netherlands by a man walking his dog, who wrote back.
Zoe with the letter she placed in a bottle and threw into the sea as a child. She has recevied a reply after 23 years
The mother – whose surname is now Averianov – was amazed when her parents called for Christmas and said they had post from Europe.
It turned out to be a reply to her letter from Piet and Jacqueline Lateur from near Rotterdam.
Mr Lateur was walking his dog in the Oosterschelde dykes, near where he and his wife live in Serooskerke, when he found the bottle with Zoe’s letter inside.
The bottle was discovered more than 350 miles away in the Netherlands. The letter has held up remarkably well considering the time it spent adrift
Mrs Averianov, 33, who works in a jewellery shop, said: 'It’s been a bit crazy really. My parents came to visit on Christmas day and they had this letter from Europe addressed to my maiden name, Lemon.
'The first thing I saw was my handwriting as a child and my little letter saying who I was and about my pets and my hobbies. It made me a bit emotional.'
Since receiving the letter, Mrs Averianov has been in contact with Mr Lateur via email and asked to see photographs of where the bottle was found.
He told her: 'I am keeping your little letter on my piano. I know you are no longer a little girl but you asked me to write you so I have.'
Odyssey: The bottle's 23-year-long journey finally reached its end in Holland, 350 miles away
The original letter, left, and Piet Lateur's response, sent from Oosterschelde dykes, near where he and his wife Jacqueline live in Serooskerke, Holland
Mrs Averianov, who lived in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, when she was growing up, said: 'It’s amazing it was still undamaged. My dad has been looking at pictures of the area where it was found online and it looks as though there is a cove, so it could have been bobbing around there for years.
'My dad is ridiculously excited. I think he’ll be after visiting, but we have only been in contact a few days so only time will tell.'
Mrs Averianov’s father, John Lemon, 68, had encouraged his daughter to throw the message into the sea on a family holiday and now she is considering doing the same for her five-year-old son Maksim.
She said: 'I’ll probably wait until he’s a bit older and can understand and write a letter, but maybe we’ll do it by attaching it to a balloon.'
SOURCE-DAILYM
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