Postcards, postcards. Pretty, shitty postcards

[Karmann Ghiaman]

Never sent, no date, but it has a 3P blue stamp from the early '70s (it was two and a half pee at the time of decimalisation):

 

 

The docks are still industrial with those cranes from Winston Churchill's funeral and a real piece of seagoing watershite passing under the looney bridge, not just some overpriced cruise ship. This is the early '60s.

 

Meanwhile, at Boddinick-by-Fowey down in Cornwall:

 

 

Those will now all be massively overpriced (that word again, so soon!) holiday homes with pink shutters that don't shut and twee names like 'Crabpots' and 'Smuggler's Cot'.

 

Fantastic '70s shite parade - starring the Brown Cortina - in Chagford, Devon:

 

 

Take the picture quickly Mr Judge, the Saga bus is due any minute now. 

 

Royal Parade, Plymouth as designed by Hermann Goering (1941-43) and the town planners that taste forgot (1949-73):

 

 

At last one that was sent, postmarked 31 Aug 1972 (still only 2 1/2 Pee, i.e. 6d):

 

 

Dear Elma

 Thank you for your letter, will answer when I get back having a nice time here weather lovely plenty to do children really enjoying themselves Best wishes to all your family Regards

 Charlotte & Family

 

Charlotte is ahead of her time and anticipating text messages by ignoring all rules of grammar, but this must have been quite annoying to ALMA when she received it.

 

Original Stone Age card from

 

 

This is very nice with H.M. Office of Works in the corner. It is from a better time when everyone just took it for granted that you are surrounded by history - and prehistory - in our country and you don't have to make either a big thing of it, or money out of it. It's just there. If you are interested, take a look. If not, drive by.

 

Several millenia later they built this not far away:

 

 

The first of several 'Suicide Cards' with a mysterious lonely young woman posed in the foreground.

 

Tuesday. Salisbury

 

Getting a bit tired of this hot humid weather, We had thunder nearly all night. I go down to the caravan on Thurs. hope it is cooler for travelling. This nice here close to the river.

Love

       Mill.

 

Can't read postmark date, but weather report dates it to the 'Drought' of '74 and it was a five-&-a-half Pee purple to send from Wilts to Hants.

 

Coming up: Shakespeare Country and East Angular...

[twosmoke300]

Is someone a Twin Town fan by any chance ?

[HillmanImp]

The brown Cortina is a Marina

[Mr Lobster]

I love postcard threads. More PLZ.

[HillmanImp]

The current scene there is also full of Autoshite win

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.672848,-3.840348,3a,75y,8.92h,72.16t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s3RS1jIk3T-lR7-ZwyOxXOA!2e0?hl=en

[HillmanImp]

Here's the cornwall one:

 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.339833,-4.62915,3a,75y,249.43h,74.84t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1subHhVnKENrXfKxXBYMcaFw!2e0?hl=en

[Asimo]

Chagford is from the 1980s, one of those new-fangled front-drive Escorts, on an X suffix!

[retrogeezer]

The brown Cortina is a Marina

 

and an early Mk3 Escort so postcard probably from at least 81, probably later.  Got a small collection of postcards with old tat in as well - they are cool.

[Karmann Ghiaman]

Apologies to the Marina, but at least I (and the owner) got the shitty colour right.

 

 

A card so old that you can see Shakespeare's car parked in front of Shakespeare's house. And later one from the same place with later vehicular interest:

 

 

I suppose that 'Harvard House' is something to do with the Harvard in America since it has the Stars & Stripes? Once read that Wyatt Earp used to proudly boast that the Earps came from next door to Shakespeare in Stratford before shooting people. Thought the yellow car might be a Spitfire Mk 4, but not really sure: someone will know. The person squatting behind it isn't doing a poo, she appears to be filming that American flag.

 

We go to

 

 

That was sent in 1969 for 4d:

 

Dear All,

 Thought I'd drop a line to say that I'm on holiday in Ainsdale (Pontin's) Camp. The weather has been great and the amusements are excellent, won £5 - 10 on Bingo last night so it must be my lucky week. 

 Hope the weathers good your end!

 Love to all (BIG CROSSING OUT) Martin.

 

You could buy a house for £5 10/- pre-decimalisation, so that Bingo was roughly equivalent to winning Euromillions today. My parents had that duck egg blue Morris Woody at the zebra, bottom right around this time. My mother would have stopped on the crossing like that too.

 

Yeah.

 

We once had an excellent discussion here, using all this early 21st Century Internet technology, about Cough the Cat, Bob Carolgees (?Spelling, something like that anyway) and other aspects of lucky felines appearing on cards and television in the '60s & '70s. Now entering the mysterious world of GKCs (ginger kitten cards):

 

Ginger Kitten Card No. 1:

 

 

...and Ginger Kitten Card No. 2:

 

 

Dear Mum & Dad,

Had a good trip here - arrived Sat. 1.30pm weather has been very good so far - rained at night only. Thanks for letters this morning - camp site is very good for facilities - Food OK but too many chips! was pushed in pool this morning fully clothed. See you Saturday

Love

Robin

 

It was collected at 4.45 on 3rd August 1971. We have also had the story of Cadet Robin being pushed into the pool that day on other postcards (bought a while ago from another stall in the same market), so a bit of a weird deja-vu there then. You may remember that he later made it to Venezuela, having inherited his mother's love of sending cards recording the exact time things happened while away from home.

[DSdriver]

This is great, keep them coming!

[Timewaster]

Chagford is from the 1980s, one of those new-fangled front-drive Escorts, on an X suffix!

Sj in the background means 84 at the earliest no?

[mouseflakes]

I love the fact that Martin seems to have got his name wrong initially (the BIG CROSSING OUT). I wonder if he had a glamorous alter ego that he used on weekends away and had accidentally signed it 'Marion' at first?

[sheffcortinacentre]

recognise the skeggy locations.

[Junkman]

Several millenia later they built this not far away:

 

 

The first of several 'Suicide Cards' with a mysterious lonely young woman posed in the foreground.

 

This could be my late aunt Irmgard, puffing away on her joint.

Man, do I miss her.

[Karmann Ghiaman]

@Mouseflakes: I'm afraid the crossing out on Martin's card might have said 'Love to all (except Somebody) Martin', and he deleted it when he realised how nasty it looked! Short of infra-red imaging investigation we'll never know.

 

Back in Norfolk:

 

 

Wed. evening.

 

Good journey here, the cottage is on a working farm & Ben is interested in everything. Visited here, Sheringham & Wells next the Sea. Tomorrow we are going to Holkham Hall. Weather good - fine & sunny but blustery winds. Home on Sunday evening. John & Mary

 

Can't read postmark date, but a massive 14P - nearly 3/- to Grandad - so I'm guessing early '80s though the card is from earlier still. We had a similar grand tour of Norfolk when I was about 11, based at Burnham Thorpe, visiting most of those places including Cley-next-the-Sea which I can't remember. We were promised the headless ghost of Anne Boleyn (? one of Henry's wives, anyway) in a carriage pulled by headless horses at Holkham Hall. This failed to materialise and I'm still feeling the bitter disappointment four decades later.

 

Next door in Suffolk:

 

 

Silent Street, Ipswich with a very pretty Frogeye and classic No Waiting sign. Might be worth Google mapping that one, though A05 6 will have moved on or corroded away since that sleepy Sunday afternoon so many summers ago.

 

This photogenic inland lighthouse has featured in several previous cards from

 

 

A veritable Booker Prize entry of a text:

 

SUNDAY 27.7.80

We arrived safely despite the storms and were greeted by sunshine. At 7.15 am today I walked along the front in brilliant warm sunshine. People bathing. RH.

 What a contrast they were watering the fields just before Diss. The house is good (where x is) food very good last night and very nice bedroom you can tell they have just started. We met up the G. & M. [?] in Abington Avenue - (what a joke) as we kept together all the way and found a good place for a bar lunch. We are off to church so rather hurried, will never forget our start for this holiday. 

 Love Reg & Noeline

 

...and neither will we, Reg.

 

Jimmy & Gary's dreamchild appears in this sinister card:

 

 

Tues. [9 Sep 1980 postmark, 10P to send]

 

Dear Doris & Reg,

                              The first days we have had, the weather is lovely* We are very comfortable, & the camp is full: Nice & flat for walking & a much smaller site* We had a day in Lowestoft (Mon) & very nice* Walking into "Corton" this morning: the beach is quite good this year, after the "Oil" which ruined it for sand* Hope you both are well, we ourselves are O.K: Stan doing his crossword: Take care.

love

       Rene & Stan

 

This one was posted a few months earlier in June that year:

 

 

It is New Road, Prestbury, Cheshire and includes the cryptic message:

 

                         Wed:

Dear M & R.

                       Many thanks

for the card - Graham

forgot, Frank forgot.

Hurrah for friends!!

Love Helda

 

A compellingly evocative image sent in August 1964:

 

 

Dear Nell. Tom. We are in Manchester for a week. having a day at Blackpool today, Our Friends are coming back with us on Sat. hope all are well. Love, Dad. Jean

                          x x x x

 

Hereford Cathedral with small quantities of ancient shite just visible near early '60s babes dressed in their summer clothes in the foreground:

 

 

My parents managed to squeeze that one in on the way to a Welsh holiday once, and that is where we will be going next in the Postcard thread...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Pillock]

 

 

Fantastic '70s shite parade - starring the Brown Cortina - in Chagford, Devon:

 

 

 

 

The irony is, if you grab a Streetview of this scene right now you don't get a Marina and Escort - you get a Moggy Minor.

 

[Mr Lobster]

Next door in Suffolk:

 

 

Silent Street, Ipswich with a very pretty Frogeye and classic No Waiting sign. Might be worth Google mapping that one, though A05 6 will have moved on or corroded away since that sleepy Sunday afternoon so many summers ago.

 

 

 

Doesn't look as nice these days...

 

[Asimo]

Not a Frogeye (Sprite) but a Triumph TR2 (maybe TR3).

[martc]

....Jimmy & Gary's dreamchild appears in this sinister card....

 

 

 I think they'll be surprised - it's a young  Max Wall.

[mercrocker]

Triumph TR3A in that Ipswich view....not a common car to find on cards of the period.

[Junkman]

The irony is, if you grab a Streetview of this scene right now you don't get a Marina and Escort - you get a Moggy Minor.

 

I'm actually mourning the demise of the P6, likely to nobody's surprise.

[Karmann Ghiaman]

Before going to the Celtic Fringe:

 

Had a good chortle at the sheer hideousness of...

 

 

... then looked on the back and found that it was Issued by the ROYAL NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR THE BLIND . Feel like a thoroughly guilty complete shit.

 

Two from Wales:

 

 

Quite an exciting afternoon there then. Here are The Old College Buildings at the University of Wales in Aberystwyth:

 

 

Posted on 2nd September 1982:

 

Dear Florence,

 Thank you very much for everything you've done for me. I don't know how to thank you for your hospitality in spite of your rheumatism.

 I extended my stay in London and came back yesterday on Bank Holiday. School has begun and a quiet academic course has set in. Aber is paradise compared with the noise and stuffy air of the underground in London.

 With love, Etanko

 

It was only sent to Penarth so Florence was a Welsh friend of the, presumably, Japanese sender.

 

Up to Scotland and the triple whammy of tartan, poetry AND the Forth Bridge in this very early card:

 

 

Unfortunately not sent, though we do have an Edwardian message coming up later.

 

Another place we have been to before, always good as they will photograph the shite o'the time negotiating it:

 

 

And three somewhat dour and respectable views of

 

 

THURSday 15 AugusT 1975)

 

Dear Roy, Alma, how nice to here from you, funy? I, said to Bill, we must give Roy & alma a ring some time, lett us know, day & time you are arriving in Edinbrough, and we will try and Pop over and see you Both, we are all well and happy here and Pleased to here all your News, Im leading a Lady's life just Now, Dont Work to hard.

                                                                       Daisy BiLL.

[drum]

See Richard's vid on the grin thread for the new road where the Devil's Elbow used to be.

[Karmann Ghiaman]

Great setting for a scary film:

 

 

4 Sep 1981, 4.45 afternoon collection at Oban:

 

Weather good. Hotel and meals smashing. Having a great time. see you at the week-end.

 Tony & Marilyn

 

They were the text messages of their day. The man on the bench to the right may, or may not, make this card an all-time classic.

 

Still Oban, but in the previous decade:

 

 

Dear Doris & Reg

Having a nice time enjoyed the coach drive Oban is very nice & the weather is all sun beautiful today.

 love Gert

 

Suicide spot:

 

 

ECHO ROCK AND LOCH ARD, TROSSACHS

 

Coming next: foreign parts...

[Karmann Ghiaman]

We can now go overseas in this fine Edwardian ship:

 

 

Rambling text which I'll scan and show you. This is more or less a short letter rather than just a card message; obviously got sent abroad in an envelope too:

 

 

One German from WITZENHAUSEN im Werratal which I do not know and had never before heard of:

 

 

Not sent. Somebody must have been there, surely?

 

Then struck Italian gold with two from Rome and three from Sicily...

 

 

Via della Conciliazione, which they have unnecessarily & amusingly translated 'Reconciliation Street'.

 

Similarly Piazza del Popolo becomes 'The Peopl's Square' [sic] 

 

 

In German it's Volks-Platz, though Piazzi de' circa 500 Fiatti Cinqecenti might be more realistic.

 

The Palermo ones with plenty more Fiats (and suspiciously mosque-like cathedral in the background):

 

 

 

 

Sadly none of these were ever posted (yet!), they'd been stuck in an album with those stamp hinges. Nowadays people keep thousands of pictures they never look at in their i-phones and they don't just bore their dinner party friends with holiday snaps: thanks to the Internet you can now share your personal human condition with the whole human race!

 

Over in Ceuta:

 

 

Good momochrome from Las Palmas, Mallorca:

 

 

I decided that the old gay flaneur and his Rottie had picked up a local rent-urchin, but the market stall man who sold me this card indignantly protested that 'It's a father and son'. He's probably right. When he saw me looking at the cards he asked 'Do you collect anything in particular?' 'Yes, crap.'

 

 

That's probably enough for now.

[chaseracer]

NEVER enough! 

[Andrew353w]

The East Anglian ones made me remember holidays in Cley Next-The-Sea and Southwold MUCH more recently (last year!) Epic cards and the stories are equally interesting! Love this thread & can't wait for the next instalment....

By the way, wasn't that a beige Austin A60 pick up in one of the earlier ones? That must be scaling the heights of Autoshite heaven! 

[carlo]

These threads make my day

[Rusty Pelican]

These cards Make my sad life 

[fred]

Keep em coming love old scenes !