Alaina Beresford from the town of Portknockie in Scotland sent a message in a bottle in 1994 as part of a school project. She was only 12 years old at the time, and now, 31 years later, she has received a reply.
In an interview, Alaina said she couldn’t believe that her original letter was in such good condition after more than three decades.
“Dear finder. My name is Alaina Stephen and I am 12 years old. I come from Portknockie and I’m doing a project about water so I decided to send a message in a bottle. When you find this message, please write your name, hobbies, where you are and when you found the message, and, if you can, a bit of information about your area. Sincerely, Alaina Stephen. P.S. I come from Scotland,” said the letter, which was thrown into the sea by the husband of Alaina’s teacher.
As a reply, she received a postcard from Pia Brodtmann.
“My name is Pia and I’m from Germany. Today I found your message in a bottle on Lisshelloya, a small island near Vega in Norway. I’m here for four months cleaning beaches as a volunteer and today we cleaned Lisshelloya. On the front of the postcard, you can see our work boat Nemo, and our sailboat Fonn, where we live. You can also see the area around Vega. I wonder when and where your teacher’s husband threw your bottle into the ocean? PS I am 27 years old and I really love rock climbing and sailing!”
Alaina, who is now 42, said she was stunned when she picked up the mail and noticed a postcard addressed to her. She had lived outside of Portknockie for a while but recently moved back to live with her parents.
Alaina managed to find Pia through social media and sent her a message asking her to send a photo of the letter.
“I was shocked when she did, I couldn’t believe how legible it was,” she said, adding that Pia and she are in contact and that she hopes they will continue communicating, BBC Scotland writes
