From Russia with love: Letter travels 1,800 miles by balloon

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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A HELIUM balloon set off by a little boy in his Peterborough back garden has been found by another family ... 1,800 miles away in south Russia.

James Dodds (3), of Benland, Bretton, released the silver heart-shaped balloon three weeks ago with a note asking whoever found it to let him know how far it flew.

When his mum, Lyndsay, was asked by the postman for a signature for a delivery from Russia on Wednesday, she did not think for one minute that it could be a response to his note.

However, when James’s grandmother, Jeanne Fallon, spotted the envelope was addressed using the note they had put on the balloon, she realised it was about the balloon’s amazing journey.

The balloon had landed in Goryachiy Klyuch, near the Black Sea, in southern Russia, a staggering 1,835 miles from Peterborough.

Inside the package was a picture of two boys, aged around nine and six, in what appears to be a back garden, happily holding the balloon which amazingly still had some helium in it.

Lyndsay (30) said: “I think it is just a lovely story and it is mind-boggling that the balloon got that far.

“We thought it might get picked up somewhere in England, but not all the way over in Russia. And for the family to write to us is really lovely.

“When we told James about it, he didn’t seem that fussed, he just thought it was nice that two other boys had found the balloon.

“They have given us their e-mail address, so we are going to drop them a message to say thank you.”

James had been given the balloon at a 25th wedding anniversary party for Lyndsay’s aunt Vicki and uncle Dave Collins in Essex.

The family released three balloons – the one from James, one from his seven-month-old brother William and one from the pair of them Baby William’s balloon also had an adventure and was discovered in Iceland.

However, it came to rest in the Bretton supermarket rather than the northern European country.

The family have not heard anything about the fate of the third balloon.

Mum Lyndsay added: “We let them all off from our back garden.That was on June 25, so the balloon must have been flying for about three weeks before they found it in Russia. I phoned my husband Robert (31) when we got the letter and he thought I was joking – it is just an amazing story.”

Note on balloon translated by tutor

THE FAMILY could not understand the letter sent in reply to their balloon, but clues to its origins came from a plethora of Russian stamps on the envelope.

The Evening Telegraph sent a copy of the letter to local Russian tutor Natasha Ali, who was able to translate it into English.

The message reads: “Hi James, your balloon has reached us in Russia! If you want to keep in touch our email address is below. We would be happy to hear from you.”

She also revealed the letter came from Goryachiy Klyuch, near Krasnodar

[Lounge Lizard]

"The balloon had landed in Goryachiy Klyuch, near the Black Sea, in southern Russia, a staggering 1,835 miles from Peterborough." - balloon or whatever, anything should be glad to get 1835 miles from Peterborough Seriously though, isn't it normal with such balloons for the sender to remove the label and post it to a relative in New Zealand to secure the prize ?