Easter Postcard Parade

[Karmann Ghiaman]

We traditionally start our tour of the good old crap 'n' crud of yesteryear here:

 

 

This card was never sent, though mysteriously it has an August 1979 postmark and a rubber stamp from 'The Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum at the All England Club'. True year the photo was taken can, however, be dated much more accurately to when 'The Liquidator' came out: 1966. Much swinging '60s shite can be discerned including Players fags, Double Diamond, 'Healthful' Wrigleys, Ty-Phoo, Skol, Moggy, Austin 1000, etc, etc. The DIGITAL clock says 15:18. Only the British could make quite such an ugly fuckup of the heart of their capital city (when it was still theirs'...) and then celebrate the shitty mess. It's the Charge of the Light Brigade in town planning!

 

Bit of a closeup now from Kardorama:

 

 

'Death Race 2000' takes us to 1975 in this one, shite abounds and Japanese products have appeared on the buses, if not in neon signage. Very nice streetcleaner's trolley which Eros is aiming at by the Sanyo bus, though you can still discern a few turds and dead pigeons he's missed (the cleaner, if not the God of Lurve).

 

[Fellow aviation enthusiasts: Note BWIA, of whom more later...]

 

Not sent, though it has a mysterious ten-and-a-half-Pee stamp and the following excellent printed text:

 

Piccadilly Circus, London: For many people London means Mayfair, Park Lane, Pall Mall, Knightsbridge and Piccadilly Circus. All these places fall within the boundaries of what is loosely called the 'West End'. London night-life used to revolve around the statue of Eros in Piccadilly Circus - but the scene has been moving gradually westwards. Nowadays you're more likely to find the 'jetset' in a Chelsea discotheheque - though they may return to Piccadilly to take in the odd continental movie at the old Windmill Theatre.

 

Printed in Ireland

 

 

'Round the corner:

 

Oxford Street is London's longest street, also its most famous shopping street, Selfridges, pictured on the left, D.H. Evans, John Lewis, F.W. Woolworths, Marks & Spencers, Marshall and Snelgrove, are a few of the prominent names of department stores which flank the streams of traffic passing up and down Oxford Street. Leading off Oxford Street is Bond Street, the most exclusive shopping area in London.

 

Printed in Ireland (possibly by someone who would like to blow all these places up).

 

Meanwhile, up in Worcester, the bland pedestrianised High Street begins a new phase of the continuing nightmare of British townscapes:

 

 

Intrusive concrete base of the statue of old Elgar must be sorely tempting to local riff-raff with spraycans, bladders full of urine and marker pens. It is now the 1980s as the blurb informs us that said statue 'was unveiled in Worcester on 2nd June 1981 by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales. The statue was sculpted by Kenneth Potts.' I like the bunting and the Walls sign. (People were still normal-sized in those days too; kept thin by smoking of course.)

 

Very, very good Chapel St Leonards with a whole Barbara Pym novel as filmed by David Lynch in it:

 

 

To die for. It's the way the pier's always there, just out of sight, over the horizon... And who IS the old lady in blue? Let's hope this card was bought at that shop. 

 

And as if that wasn't enough, Beach Approach, Village Centre, Chapel St. Leonards:

 

 

That's YOU on holiday there, mate, in 1975 with Dad & Mum, and what a fine blazing row they've just had! Paradise. More soon...

[mouseflakes]

That's YOU on holiday there, mate, in 1975 with Dad & Mum, and what a fine blazing row they've just had! Paradise. More soon...

 

No, I was in Cleethorpes that year.

 

I always enjoy these posts KG - thanks.

[Mr Lobster]

Superb! As with Mr Flakes, I love these postcard threads, keep it coming.

[Pillock]

Yay! Can't beat a bit of Chapel!

[meggersdog]

For those of us of a certain age these old postcards take you back to that time (well the '70's & 80's ones do).Thanks for sharing.

[Junkman]

No, I was in Cleethorpes that year.

 

Nah, 1975 was Margate. But where's my sister?

 

Gharmann Kiaman's PC threads rule!

[Karmann Ghiaman]

Here's one from Rutland County Council, Libraries and Museums:

 

 

This was bought last summer in that very (disappointing) room, Interior of Great Hall, Oakham Castle. On the walls are some of the horseshoes forfeited to the Lord of the Manor by peers of the realm. Well, they're not really horseshoes, are they? Far too big. And upside-down is BAD LUCK, so it's no wonder they had that earthquake the other day. (Not sure if any of them fell down in the quake; it would be interesting to find out). If you have a horseshoe fetish, well worth a visit. If not, quite boring really, though it is free.

 

This one vies with the famous Burnley milkman:

 

 

Published by Reflections of a Bygone Age Keyworth, Nottingham. It is L. Johnson, fresh fish merchant, and his mobile van in the Keyworth "Tavern" Car Park. It is also No. 4 in the 'Keyworth Life' series, Limited Edition of 1,000. I have made it my life's quest to track down more from this superb set. Would you buy fish (or indeed anything) from that pissed-off-looking man?

 

 

Beverley - Humber Bridge - Hull - Hornsea. Result.

 

We will now go abroad in...

 

 

...M.V. Cunard Countess, British registry, 17,586 Gross tons, Built 1976. Oh yes...

[martc]

Sorry to be picky as these postcard threads are ace, but ......

 

",,,shite abounds and Japanese products have appeared on the buses, if not in neon signage..."

 

Apart from the Fuji Film neon sign.

 

Sorry

[Pillock]

Fujifuirumu Kabushiki-kaisha was a photographic company founded in Lancashire, as the name suggests.

 

Maybe.

[lovejoy]

Top postcarding, KG  -  but don't see any of Bornmuff (dahn in Darzet..) where I woz in 1975....  for my sins, in a minivan   (drinkin' Zider, probably...)

[mercrocker]

As a collector myself I appreciate this thread very much....I nearly bought the fish seller one the other day because it was so dire!   I particularly like those dismal seaside ones too but tend to just get  ones with old motors in them.   Good stuff!

[Mr Lobster]

 

We will now go abroad in...

 

 

 

...M.V. Cunard Countess, British registry, 17,586 Gross tons, Built 1976. Oh yes...

 

She didn't fair to well afterwards.... beached at Aliaga for breaking only last month.

 

[chaseracer]

Meanwhile, up in Worcester, the bland pedestrianised High Street begins a new phase of the continuing nightmare of British townscapes:

 

 

Intrusive concrete base of the statue of old Elgar must be sorely tempting to local riff-raff with spraycans, bladders full of urine and marker pens. It is now the 1980s as the blurb informs us that said statue 'was unveiled in Worcester on 2nd June 1981 by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales. The statue was sculpted by Kenneth Potts.' I like the bunting and the Walls sign. (People were still normal-sized in those days too; kept thin by smoking of course.)

 

 

Sir Ed's cubular support structure didn't stay virgin for long, as I recall.  The same could be said of a large proportion of the teenage population, though sadly none of the nice young ladies I grew up with.  Well, apart from......... anyhoo, moving on... 

 

Worcester remains a masterpiece* of 1960s car-centred town planning.  Whole streets of mediaeval buildings were swept away for a 'shopping centre', a dual-carriageway and a pointless roundabout which destroy the atmosphere of the cathedral close and separate it from the city.

 

I remember Brian's June '81 visit.  My parents have a photo of the chinless wonder grinning at me out of a Daimler as I wave the red ensign the Owd Giffer had lifted from his last Merchant Navy ship 25 years earlier...

[Karmann Ghiaman]

Thank you for your comments, gentlemen; always particularly useful if you know the places shown. I do try to get cards with cars in them, but some of the photographers were quite cunning about actually focusing on the Medieval Moot Hall. Even without shite, postcards can still stir strange memories and forgotten terrors...

 

Now that we are in Belgium:

 

 

La Hai Saints (+ car in ditch). Airfix modellers will recall this as the Waterloo Farmhouse which came in grey and was quite difficult to paint white, though the roof looked nice. It would be La Haye Sainte (The Holy Hedge) in better French than the Belgians seem to have managed. The original owner has put a useful map on the back:

 

 

Maybe it was the Duke of Wellington and that's his battle plan?

 

Two from Brittany:

 

 

 

Apologies for lack of relevant vehicular stuff, but they are eerily evocative and crying out to be shared, especially the rocks...

 

The rocks. The rocks...

 

Similar monochrome Frenchie - with voitures - and, best of all, text:

 

 

Dear Keith,

 

We are having a nice time. The weather is mild and Avignon is a pretty little place. Money & language are causing a few misunderstandings but otherwise things are fine. I'll write later

 

Love Margaret xxx

 

Posted from Avignon, Vauclose, April 1962. Poignant to find that curling away on a market stall over 50 years after it was sent.

 

This one must date from the earliest days of package trips, posted in Funchal, Madeira, Sat 31 - 1 - 59:

 

 

Warm here.

 

Hope you are well

Love

Dad

 

No, we are fucking freezing and there's a coal shortage, but still.

 

Interestingly, postcard collectors: it's a J. Arthur Dixon, printed in the Isle of Wight. Ox cart shite enough wheels for you?

 

Coming up: Very old cards, more ships. Aeroplanes, very old aeroplanes, airports and some fine shite to boot.

[Tayne]

 

 

This one must date from the earliest days of package trips, posted in Funchal, Madeira, Sat 31 - 1 - 59:

 

 

Warm here.

 

Hope you are well

Love

Dad

 

No, we are fucking freezing and there's a coal shortage, but still.

 

Interestingly, postcard collectors: it's a J. Arthur Dixon, printed in the Isle of Wight. Ox cart shite enough wheels for you?

 

Coming up: Very old cards, more ships. Aeroplanes, very old aeroplanes, airports and some fine shite to boot.

 

 

[hennabm]

"That's YOU on holiday there, mate, in 1975 with Dad & Mum",

 

 

Nope I had my last holiday with my parents in 1975 and they took me to Butlitz in Pwhelli (Walesland).

 

I did have a holiday in Chapel with my grandparents a number of years before 1975. IIRC it was in a static caravan. I can't remember any pier though.

[Karmann Ghiaman]

Funchal could be worse after nearly six decades.

 

Here's a very old one indeed:

 

 

Sent from Imperial Germany in September 1901 when they had only just been invented.

 

 

As you told us you were collecting post cards I thought perhaps you would like this one...

 

They hadn't yet worked out the idea of dividing the back into text/address halves, so Mals has had to squeeze in her banalities to Dear Old Bert. Nice to know that text messages and selfies won't survive more than a century, isn't it?

 

Extremely early aviation card:

 

 

Santos Dumont was a Brazilian in Paris who managed to make this backward-flying thing '14bis' just after the Wright Brothers, um, got it right. Despite all evidence to the contrary, all Brazilians are convinced that he invented the aeroplane and he is a national hero, appearing on statues, banknotes, etc there.

 

The obligatory Beetle(s) at the Funkturm, Berlin:

 

 

Kongresshalle with mystery (British?) yellow bus from the same series:

 

 

Another north European capital To Keith from Lars:

 

 

Here is a view from Stockholm (the capital of Sweden It is not a great town (I think London is much more big) regards from Sweden

 

And, going much further afield - or rather, overseas - the Oriana P & O 42,000 tons:

 

 

July 4th (1967) Panama

 

We are docked in Colon, Panama and are hoping to put a foot on it. The trip has been very enjoyable. Today a friend of mine called Pamela went exploring and hid paper boats all over the ship. Acapulco was ever so hot we felt sure we were melting. Mark and I both have top bunks. Mummy saw alligators and we all saw a submarine on her maiden voyage.

 

Love from all, Tessa

 

See you soon!!!

 

Quite happy with Chapel St Leonards, thank you. (Interesting Canal Zone stamps too).

 

 

[Inspector Morose]

The bus was, I think, one of these:

 

 

 

A BVG (Berlin transport) Büssing double deck.

[Junkman]

Yep, Büssing D2U in front of the "pregnant oyster".

Also note DKW Universal and Goliath GP 1100 Kombi in front of the Funkturm.

[Karmann Ghiaman]

Hope Junkman will enter the next series of Mastermind with 'German Autoschiess of the 1960s' as his Specialist Subject. Genius.

 

Here's the BWIA aeroplane card:

 

 

BWIA'S FLEET OF SWIFT, SILENT BOEING 707 SUNJETS PROVIDE FREQUENT SERVICE BETWEEN THE CARIBBEAN AND THE GATEWAYS OF NEW YORK, TORONTO AND MIAMI.

 

Come fly with the leader.

 

While looking at aircraft, everyone likes...

 

 

...neither sent unfortunately.

 

Aircraft will, of course, take you straight to the architectural glories of airports, such as:

 

 

INTERNATIONAL AIR-PORT SUBANG, SELANGOR, MALAYSIA.

 

While in Malaysia you will want to visit:

 

 

STADIUM NEGARA KUALA LUMPUR.

 

The picture shows STADIUM NEGARA, which is just next to the Merdeka Stadium, this famous landmark being used for sports is one of the best cultural centres in Malaya.

 

Finally, to round off the 2014 Easter Parade, one sent from Singapore in 1956:

 

 

It's the Victoria Memorial Hall (no doubt since renamed People's Liberation From British Imperialist Oppression Centre)This has interesting message bringing back days of not unpleasant National Service:

 

2/11/56

 

Dear John, Keith (+ Betty) my address is 5020528 SAI WILLSHIRE MET OFFICE, RAF. CHANGI SINGAPORE 17. Sure is very hot out here at 85 day & night. Very beautiful scenery. For Yorkies benefit crumpet costs £2 for the night. Everything very cheap. I'll be able to get things I never dreamed of all clothes are tailored out here. Yours posted up Derek

 

That's having an Empire for you!

[Mr Lobster]

£2 for crumpet for the night!  It better come hot and buttered for that.

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, wait.....

 

 

That sort of crumpet. VALUE.

[chaseracer]

That MG1100 must've lasted all of ten minutes in the humidity of KL.

[Pillock]

THAT sort of crumpet?! Why would you put that on a postcard to Betty?

[Karmann Ghiaman]

Well, he put '(+ Betty)' like that in brackets, so guess the card was for the lads, but they could tell her edited highlights. Would've been nice if he'd sent a picture of Suzy Wong, but '50s posties would probably have nicked it and used it to decorate the Sorting Office so we'd never have learnt contemporary cost of Changi Chinee clumpet.