Woman Says She Received ‘Nasty’ Reply to Her Message in a Bottle: ‘I Just Wanted a Bit of Romance’

A woman in the U.K. who has spent years sending messages in bottles in search of romance says one of her latest replies was the opposite of love.

Lorraine Forbes, 58, from East Sussex, has been tossing bottle messages into nearby waters for years, hoping they might reach someone interested in a romantic connection, according to KPVI 6, per SWNS. She’s received occasional responses over time, but a recent one left her stunned.

Forbes said a package arrived containing rocks and a sharp note that read: “Please stop throwing rubbish in the sea. It goes to Pevensey Bay or Normans Bay one day later. Many thanks, a rubbish picker.”

Adding to her frustration, Forbes said it cost her about $9.20 to receive the parcel.

“I have been sending the letters for years,” she explained. “Whoever writes back to me rarely wants to meet me — they just tell me where they found them.” She added that some have traveled as far as France and Holland.

“I just wanted a bit of romance. It has always been a hobby of mine. It is an old-fashioned thing,” she said.

Forbes, who uses plastic bottles instead of glass to avoid breakage, called the anonymous reply “cowardly” because it included no name or return address. If it had, she said she would have asked for her $9.20 back.

She also noted she’s been warned before about her bottled messages, especially when she releases several at once.

“I’ve been told off before for throwing the bottles into the water — they keep trying to stop me,” she said.

After this latest response, Forbes said she may stop the practice altogether. “This has made me realize Environmental Health could find my letters with my name and address, and I might get in legal trouble,” she said.

In England and Wales, it is technically illegal to throw waste into bodies of water, according to Sussex Police. Authorities in West Sussex have also introduced littering fines of around $99 per incident, the BBC reports.