Come up and see my Postcards some time...

[chaseracer]

But the Simca 1501 break, Audi ur-80 and Datsun 180B more than make up for that disappointment.  And TWO (count 'em!) Avengers!

 

Also, are the owners of the CA Dormobile simply very trusting, or has the door broken...?

[martc]

Also, are the owners of the CA Dormobile simply very trusting, or has the door broken...?

 

"You could leave your front door open in them days"

[Karmann Ghiaman]

That Dormobile in Alnwick was probably full of '60s tat (Dinky toys, Barbie dolls, Action men, tupperware, Clarice Cliff, etc.) that would now be worth a fortune on ebay, or at an antiques fair, but was just crap you left lying around in your broken-doored Dormer in those days.

 

Nice Rover, but not very welcoming Dunstanburgh Castle Hotel, Embleton card:

 

This is The Fishing Lodge at Matthews Linn on Kielder Water's south shore (looking like Canada):

 

 

More attractive than the grim hotel two above is this Yew Tree Ham and Egg Restaurant, Seatoller, Honister Pass:

 

 

I'll have ham and eggs please (but go easy on the yew tree).

 

We go Welshwards:

 

 

This one was posted in Bridgend in April 1923:

 

 

Dear Muriel

Just a few Welsh Ladies for you, shall be home tomorrow

 With Love

         'Dad'

xxxxxxx

 

Yes, they were the (better) text messages of their day.

 

Less realistically:

 

 

It seems to be a medical bulletin sent from Prestatyn nearly half a horribly eventful Century later in 1962

 

Dear Pat Bill & family,

Sorry we didn't have the opportunity of going over to see you but Paul got bronchitis the week before - Anyway we'll see you soon - Hope your feeling better now Pat - It's a beautiful place here and the weather is really beautiful  God Bless You all

                                                                                                                                                              Love

                                                                                                                                                    Leni [?] & Ken & Kids

 

Non postcard Welsh rare bint:

 

 

After & Before tit enhancement.

 

The Dolmellynllyn Hall Hotel, Dolgellau:

 

 

Tel: Ganllwyd 273. All rooms have hot and cold water, but none have private bathrooms.

[chaseracer]

Nice Rover, but not very welcoming Dunstanburgh Castle Hotel, Embleton card:

 

 

 

 

Triumph 2000...

 

!>

 

[Karmann Ghiaman]

   Got the '2000' bit right, but thought it might be an early '60s TC... Please don't hesitate to correct/improve on cars & places wherever possible!

 

This card only just scrapes in because it clearly is 'arty' and 'ironic', a loss of innocence that's NOT what we're looking for, but it is a good photograph and does include a wee smatterin' o'braw Shite:

 

 

'Rain', Patrick, Glasgow by Colin Baxter, n.d., but I'd guess the early '90s. (Still prefer the work of his brother Stanley.)

 

We had a good discussion here once about the mines & counter-mines under St Andrews Castle, but here's another bit of that historic Scottish city:

 

 

One of the houses in the row at the back there is currently on sale for something like £1.5 million which just goes to show that you don't have to be in that there London to encounter crazy property prices. Presumably it is a nice big house, but the price is grossly inflated by proximity to top class sport, the monetary value of which is now also grossly and greedily exaggerated... 

 

Glencoe Village and the Pap of Glencoe, Argyll:

 

 

If only they'd called it the Tit o'Glencoe... an exciting Franco-British standoff of Shite in this spectacular scenery for a massacre (and Crafts & Things).

 

Watershite enthusiasts, here is the B+I Motorway M.V. Munster:

 

 

Presumably it stands/stood for 'British & Irish Motorway', though it might have been wiser to avoid a word which means something quite different, but still. A Ro-ro ferry. That particular one was built (in Germany) in 1968 and plied the Liverpool - Dublin or Swansea - Cork run. Anybody ever go on it? Happy memories of the wall-to-wall cheap whiskey that was known as Duty Free? Granny falling overboard? Being seasick?

 

But no cards from the Emerald Isle in this selection I'm afraid; we are going the other way and here is the European Capital of Shite, as frequently documented by the great Michiel:

 

 

...a  little of it visible behind the tourist boat.

 

Rather peculiar picture from Berlin, a place which was already quite creepy enough without this:

 

 

Ah, the Germans. You've gotta forgive 'em, as Homer Simpson observed.

[Vin]

Top Work KGM.

 

Whatever happened to the 'great Michiel' ???....

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Wow, A Toyota Crown Coupe with some sort of aftermarket allys- Cosmic ?

That must be about the most unlikely car ever to have been captured on a British postcard..

[Karmann Ghiaman]

Still in Deutschland, friendly message to African & Asian Asylum Seekers: Gruss aus der Glasstadt Rattenberg...

 

 

Superb Euroshite, but nasty message to fellow-EU nationals: Nachdruck verboten!

 

Slightly sexy one from up in Falkenberg:

 

 

She will be getting a prickly, sandy bottom... and her pension by now, as it was sent in 1968:

 

DEAR. ALL

 

The weather is very good. sea very warm. I am very red. and some The food is delicious and the hotel is modern. We are going to Copenhagen tomorrow for the day.

              Lots of Love

                 Josie.

                    xxxxx

 

Going back right down to the southernmost German lands you can cross this Europabruecke on the way to the Brenner Pass:

 

 

Someone's gone offroad to look at the view or commit suicide or something. We'll soon be in Italy...

 

 

[chaseracer]

Domestic Management is a music teacher.  In 1992 she was also a tutor with the county youth choir, and I accompanied her as a "supernumerary responsible* adult*" on that year's choral tour of southern Europe.

 

 

On noticing the relevant signage on the southbound Brennerautobahn, I remarked, "WOW!  WE'RE GOING OVER THE EUROPABRUCKE!!"

 

Juuuuust a little* too loudly.  On a coach full of teenagers.  And the wife's colleagues...

 

Oops.

 

[mouseflakes]

It was difficult to read the signature which was at first mistaken for polar opposites 'Lovely' and 'Lonely'. The main thing is that this banal information has survived down the Ages.

...

Dr Johnson closely admiring most excellent Van Crud parked slap bang in the middle of the card:

...

She will be getting a prickly, sandy bottom... and her pension by now, as it was sent in 1968:

...

Someone's gone offroad to look at the view or commit suicide or something.

Love these threads.

[Junkman]

Going back right down to the southernmost German lands you can cross this Europabruecke on the way to the Brenner Pass:

 

 

Someone's gone offroad to look at the view or commit suicide or something. We'll soon be in Italy...

 

 

Sorry to be such an anorak, but the Europabrücke is about as much in Germany as the Firth of Tay bridge.

[Junkman]

Again no Shite, but another Walls sign and extremely politically incorrect litter bin at the Paddling Pool & Palace Pier, Brighton, sent in 1963:

 

 

That rubbish bin has since been replaced with a Muslim one, surely?

[sheffcortinacentre]

simon templar doesn't seem interested

[Eddie Honda]

This card only just scrapes in because it clearly is 'arty' and 'ironic', a loss of innocence that's NOT what we're looking for, but it is a good photograph and does include a wee smatterin' o'braw Shite:

 

 

'Rain', Patrick, Glasgow by Colin Baxter, n.d., but I'd guess the early '90s. (Still prefer the work of his brother Stanley.)

Early '90s? Eh?

 

I'm guessing it's from the mid-1970s as you can see all the Leyland Atlanteans with GG (Greater Glasgow Passenger Transport Executive) liveries.

 

Looking at it closer, it seems to be taken just down the road from The Lismore on Dumbarton Road / Hyndland Street

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.8708551,-4.3030995,3a,75y,112.04h,71.73t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1smz865TGGgg1PlbWvgeXnog!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

Although most of the the right hand side of road has been redeveloped, the bingo hall (then F&F) is still there just after pedestrian crossing (now Carlton). They kept the hall and built the new crap right round it.

 

[Karmann Ghiaman]

@Junkman: In fairness to myself I did refer to the 'southernmost German lands' meaning not necessarily the political entity now defined as 'Germany', but also including other states inhabited by Germanic/German speaking people, such as Austria and Switzerland. Fraternal anoraky greetings, KGM 

 

After a few weeks in Germany many of the poor Asylum Seekers will be wondering how they can get back to the ruins of Aleppo and the cosy familiarity of ISIS and Basher Assad's barrel bombs... (or heading for at least Calais).

 

Since the Brenner Autobahn brings back such happy memories:

 

 

820 metres, but it doesn't tell you how long it is in English.

 

This lot will be your guides:

 

 

No lonely goatherds there.

 

Sent to sunny Birmingham one long-ago Monday, but the dozy Austrians* have failed to frank it:

 

Dear All,

              This is a picture of the people in a show we went to see last night. It was really good. We are in Innsbruck now and you wouldn't believe your eyes, if you saw the hotel it's the most modern I've ever been in. The rooms are designed for two students at the university but they are on holiday so we've got it [sic]. The view from our room (7th floor) is fantastic the river is on the right about 20' from the hotel - See you all soon

                       love Kath

 

[*Real Germans would NOT have failed to frank ze postkarte! Nachdruck Verboten!]

 

Whether they were travelling with a Youth Choir or not, whoever bought some of these cards really liked that Autobahn:

 

 

Who would be so sad as to collect and gaze upon such nerdy stuff? 

[chaseracer]

^ We would!

 

Back up to the Brenner for a moment: this junction makes gate 3 of the M50 look almost sensible...

 

 

[Karmann Ghiaman]

We will continue southwards later and look at a few from Italy, but first there's this place to check out:

 

 

Seems to have been franked in Blighty, but ludicrously complicated French frank on the other side seems to read 2202.88: 1N which might just be 1988? It cost 1.70 Francs to send if that's any kind of a clue:

 

The Sun is really quite hot. Its melting my Barbour.

 

Bonjour.

Or Hello. Having a good time sight seeing + God [? That is definitely what it says], these are some sights. Trip over was quite good without too many trauma's. Have seen round Notre Dame. Quasimodo sends his regards. Looking forward to the competition now. Got to go now see you soon lots of love DaD

                                       xxxxxx

 

Make of it what you will. It is possible that this is a born again christian who is ever conscious of the presence of the Almighty, though that would seem to make it rather unnecessary to remind your family of His divine presence. Grammar pedants: Enjoy the 'its' that should have had an apostrophe, shortly followed by 'trauma's' that shouldn't.

 

 

Think I read that in August 1914 the French government fled to Bordeaux, but not before piling up loads of crap under the Arc de Triomphe to make it more difficult for the Kaiser's men to have their traditional victory parade under it. Luckily General Gallieni realised that Paris was already full of shite (taxis), commandeered the lot and managed to get his army to the Marne in the nick of time, thereby delaying the Germans till 1940.

 

 

German soldiers and/or tourists are informed that this is Eine typische Strasse von Monmartre.

 

Very early inhabitants of Peyzac le Moustier (24620 Dordogne) in brilliantly crap tableau which must be the envy of all England:

 

 

"Didn't I tell you to tidy up all these bones at the front?"

"Give us a break. I'm trying to kill this fucking bear you stupid cow."

[Karmann Ghiaman]

A couple from Italy:

 

 

 

This was sent in 1982, but could just as well have been a Grand Tour of 1782:

 

10/9/82 ROME

 

DEAR RICH, DAVE, GREBO & RICK,

 SO FAR; PARIS, BANDUL (COTE D'AZUR), PISA, ALBINIA (WEST COAST ITALY), ROME, WEATHER MAINLY HOT - WILL RETURN TANNED. BEER & WINE VERY CHEAP, ESPECIALLY ITALY WHERE FOOD IS CHEAP TOO. ARDUOUS TRAIN JOURNEY AHEAD TO GREECE VIA VENICE & BELGRADE. NO TROUBLE WITH LANGUAGE IN FRANCE, ITALY HARDER, GREECE GOING TO BE TERRIBLE.

 SEE YOU SOON

   PAUL & JON.

 

I like to think that he is now still writing on the Internet every day IN CAPITALS.

 

Trieste, Piazza Vittorio Veneto:

 

 

It was sent to what was the then next-door country, Yugoslavia. If the Central Powers had won the First World War, Trieste would have (still) been in Austria and that would have remained Franz Josef Platz...

 

Here's the back in case anyone can understand Yugoslavian:

 

 

How it ended up four decades later on a market stall in Nottinghamshire, God alone knows.

[martc]

Was skiing last winter whilst over looking the Europabruecke, from the Germanic side.

 

Also many years ago was involved in an aquaplaning coach incident whilst travelling over the bridge - brown trouser time!

 

According to the locals there are explosive charges in the foundations of the bridge - with independent buttons in Italy and Austria, just in case one of them gets a bit "territorial".

[mouseflakes]

Quasimodo sends his regards. Looking forward to the competition now.

 

Make of it what you will.

I read this bit and just assumed DaD was gearing up for some big 'clang-off' contest with the local celebrity bell-ringer.

[Karmann Ghiaman]

Another big bit of watershite, Ancerville:

 

 

This was a French vessel which, according to the card, plied her trade between Morocco, the Canaries and Senegal. Launched in 1962, the card was sent some years later to a boy at boarding school in Surrey...

 

14th July.    We spend several hours to-day at Las Palmas & I've put myself down for an organized excursion. I am sharing a cabin with an elderly frenchwoman & her young parrots, who are not nearly as nice as Nike. I hope I can travel back on a cargoe.

                                           Lots of love

                                                         Mummy

 

Perhaps she meant that she hoped the parrots would travel back as cargo, rather than squawking at her all night? Ambiguous, but the handwriting is quite clear.

 

But we are not going to the French or Spanish colonies; we hijack the Ancerville and force Captain and crew to take us here instead:

 

 

Rare appearance of nipples in non-saucy postcard, though you wonder if their owner (or indeed her boyfriend) ever knew that they had been preserved so nicely for posterity. (This place has got a lot worse since, especially when my brother and his mates go there.)

 

Very early traffic chaos in Buenos Aires (Avenida Sarmiento), sent to Glasgow about a hundred years back:

 

 

Leisure living with Vistavan:

 

 

Lets you get away from it all - and take it all with you too! For further information - VISTAVAN LIMITED - 53 Samor Road - Toronto 19.

 

And finally here's another petite blonde displaying her pretty little pussy:

 

 

The End of postcards...for now. 

[Mr A Lawrence]

Keep it up!!

[Spottedlaurel]

Any more to come KG? I was pleased to see you still going with the old postcards.