Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Another Stack of Postcards


Here are a few of the postcards I rescued on Monday. I was thinking as I scanned these that if I saw them in a store, I would never blog them. What makes them interesting is the finding -- the serendipity involved in my almost literally stumbling across them after someone else had discarded them as rubbish. Hopefully that serendipity is interesting to you, too!

First, some "shire horses harvesting hay," at the Acton Scott Working Farm Museum in Shropshire.


This is supposedly southern England, 124 million years ago. And look -- alligators! I am home, after all! The card is from the British Museum (Natural History), now the Natural History Museum, dated 1987.


A very sunny postcard for Bridlington, a town on the Yorkshire coast. Definitely makes you want to visit, doesn't it? A veritable Riviera! Someone wins points for graphic design and marketing.


And now for something completely different, as Monty Python would say. This is the only postcard in the bunch that has been mailed -- it was sent from Larache, Morocco, in August 1993. Coincidentally, I was living in Morocco at that time, and I went to Larache almost exactly a year later, in August 1994. In my journals I called it "a dump," but I was very enthusiastic about the hotel where we stayed, which "had 3 soft beds, a hot shower, was scrupulously clean and had a great toilet deodorizer that made the water foamy and the bathroom smell like lilacs."  The hotel, I wrote, was "the best part of the trip."

Anyway, that was my adventure in Larache. What did the postcard writer have to say? Not much: "I'm having a great time in Morocco. It's very hot. I hope you got my message on the phone. Goodbye, see you soon."

Clearly he stayed in the wrong hotel. If he'd encountered my spectacular toilet deodorizer, he would have had more to write home about!


Continuing the African theme while simultaneously circling back to Britain, this is a pair of elephants from the Welsh Mountain Zoo. Although the zoo still exists, apparently it no longer has elephants -- the last one reportedly moved to another location in 1995.


Finally, this looks like a picture I might take on the Grand Union Canal -- but it's actually the Leeds and Liverpool Canal at Skipton, in North Yorkshire. (With what looks like a clump of pink valerian growing in the foreground.)

I saved a few more, but I can't blog 'em all!

16 comments:

gz said...

A grand find!

e said...

You've got a nice variety there...

crafty cat corner said...

Love them. I could happily spend time browsing through this lot, lucky you finding them.
Nothing from Brighton then?
Briony
x

Yorkshire Pudding said...

Fascinating! Bridlington is just up the road from by childhood home and it is where my grandmother died. I remember seeing several bands at the Bridlington Spa Theatre on the seafront including Mott the Hoople and Wishbone Ash. I have also visited Acton Scott in Shropshire which is a lovely county - one of England's best kept secrets.

Alphie Soup said...

Love the Shire horses, the leaning tree of Morocco and the Welsh zoo elephants with their friendly 'smiles'.
The footpaths of London are a treasure trove of discarded delights.
Alphie

Colette said...

I really enjoyed these!

Vivian Swift said...

You're right, it's the little disruption of routine that counts when you found these post cards. It's like a teeny dose of magic, having these items come to you across miles and years. They appear out of the blue, like little time travelers, and they tell you their story but not all of it.

Ms. Moon said...

My favorite is the dinosaur of course. Makes me feel right at home. I have always suspected that in the deepest parts of the Florida swamps and jungles dinosaurs do still exist and of course- alligators! My dream is to one day see and actual ancient armadillo as big as a Volkswagen.
Hey! It could happen!
Are you going to make some sort of display for these? I think you should.
I will be thinking about that Moroccan hotel all day long now.

Sharon said...

That first post card is my favorite. That card from Bridlington reminds me so much of the post cards from the 40's when they would over saturate the colors to make it look more appealing. I love your description of the hotel in Morocco.

Red said...

The girls and the hay wagon make for an interesting photo. I've never seen two horses hitched this way.

ellen abbott said...

a fun selection and you're right, it's the finding them that makes them interesting.

Linda Sue said...

These are all wonderful. Who doesn't love post card?? I buy them and rarely send them probably because they mean more to me than any recipient. Have always been a sucker for a stack of them in boxes at flea markets and where ever. Thank you for the rescue. They are brilliant- love the hotel story.

I reckon collecting post cards is great on all counts, that they take up very little room is also a plus. For my son's birthday one year I got him a stack of very old post cards and he was thrilled- another genetic flaw?

Catalyst said...

Wonderful!

Allison said...

I LOVE the horses and the bringing in the hay. It's unlikely that anyone was smiling like that, it's really hard work. London has the best trash.

jenny_o said...

Your toilet deodorizer story made me laugh!

John Going Gently said...

Love the dinosaur one