Postcards
Apparently, according to an article in The Guardian newspaper that I read recently (it was free in my hotel in Paris, she said swankily) sales of picture postcards are soaring.
I didn't know that they had declined. It's possible that I've been keeping the British Postcard Industry going single-handedly for years.
For I've always sent postcards. Even if I'm on a day trip somewhere I'll usually send at least a couple.
To me it's a way of saying hello, I'm thinking of you and I wish you were in this lovely place too (or, sometimes, I'm glad you're not in this horrible hole).
Sometimes I use them as an interim measure for people I don't get in touch with very often - hello, I'm thinking of you, but the last you heard from me was at Christmas and now it's July, but the long gap wasn't intentional, honest.
I generally go for the scenic ones because that's what I like when people send me postcards - - ooh, that place looks good!
When I was a stage-struck teenager I once wrote to the actor Ian McKellen (Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings films) to ask where the theatre company he was with was touring to (no interclacker in them far-off days, of course). After that he occasionally used to send me postcards, which was lovely of him: I remember he once sent me one from Japan.
And we still have some postcards that my grandfather sent from France when he was in the trenches of the First World War - fascinating in their very dullness, because anything interesting would have been censored.
I used to collect them, and stick them in albums, but finally gave up when I had just too many to keep up.
Whenever I go anywhere I'm armed with stamps and those who know me sigh with resignation as I hurtle towards any shop selling postcards.
I love to receive them too, of course, but I don't see it as an I'll send you one if you send me one transaction at all. I just like keeping in touch, and sending postcards, to me, is a great way to do it.
I didn't know that they had declined. It's possible that I've been keeping the British Postcard Industry going single-handedly for years.
For I've always sent postcards. Even if I'm on a day trip somewhere I'll usually send at least a couple.
To me it's a way of saying hello, I'm thinking of you and I wish you were in this lovely place too (or, sometimes, I'm glad you're not in this horrible hole).
Sometimes I use them as an interim measure for people I don't get in touch with very often - hello, I'm thinking of you, but the last you heard from me was at Christmas and now it's July, but the long gap wasn't intentional, honest.
I generally go for the scenic ones because that's what I like when people send me postcards - - ooh, that place looks good!
When I was a stage-struck teenager I once wrote to the actor Ian McKellen (Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings films) to ask where the theatre company he was with was touring to (no interclacker in them far-off days, of course). After that he occasionally used to send me postcards, which was lovely of him: I remember he once sent me one from Japan.
And we still have some postcards that my grandfather sent from France when he was in the trenches of the First World War - fascinating in their very dullness, because anything interesting would have been censored.
I used to collect them, and stick them in albums, but finally gave up when I had just too many to keep up.
Whenever I go anywhere I'm armed with stamps and those who know me sigh with resignation as I hurtle towards any shop selling postcards.
I love to receive them too, of course, but I don't see it as an I'll send you one if you send me one transaction at all. I just like keeping in touch, and sending postcards, to me, is a great way to do it.
posted by Daphne at 12:11 am
7 Comments:
I suspect that a postcard from the trenches would come under your category of 'glad you're not in this horrible hole.'
Literally.
I like them too! To send and receive. In fact, I have had two in the last three days. One from the Shetlands, and one from Canada.
Would love to send you one, but I don't know your address :-)
"When I was a stage-struck teenager I once wrote to the actor Ian McKellen (Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings films) to ask where the theatre company he was with was touring to (no interclacker in them far-off days, of course). After that he occasionally used to send me postcards, which was lovely of him: I remember he once sent me one from Japan."
Wow, I'm impressed!! He's A-list and I'm a big fan!
Oh don't encourage her, Bun. She'll start telling you about her trips to Paris next !
A few years back, when Ian McKellen was appearing at the Bradford Alhambra, I wrote to him along the lines of "you may not remember me but you used to send me postcards when I was a teenager and I really appreciated it." I received a very friendly, of-course-I-remember-you-Daphne reply by return of post. Great actor, nice man.
Hey, Bun, d'you know I've just come back from PARIS?
Paris? Really? I didn't even get a postcard!!!
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