This week's incoming postcards / stamps

20 postcards, 2 folded cards ...

and not forgetting a half card!

A Day to Remember

The British love their heritage,

Their pomp and pageantry;

And nothing suits them better than

An anniversary –

An excuse for a toast and a flag on a pole,

Or a plaque, or to plant a tree.

Every day of the year belongs to a saint

Or a much more colourful sinner:

Someone died, or someone was born

King Alfred burnt the dinner,

Or something remarkable happened, or

The West Indies brought on a spinner.

But the dullest day in all the year

Is the nineteenth of February,

For nothing of note took place today

As far as I can see….

           Nigel Forde

Which just goes to show he never reeds Messymimi's blog -http://messymimismeanderings.blogspot.com/

Postcards - this week's incoming

I am aiming to do a weekly blog post showing the incoming postcards and some folded cards for the week.  Whether I'll manage to keep it up or not remains to be seen but here is this week's.

They came from Scotland (folded cards), Finland, Sweden, Ukraine, Greece, The Netherlands and Tierra del Fuego - the southernmost tip of Argentina, the end of the world!  Thanks to all concerned.

Granny Weatherwax and 'friends'

When I’m in need of pure escapism from life, reality, pain, or whatever, I travel to The Discworld of Terry Pratchett.  Perhaps the following  quotes from “Equal Rites” may give you a hint why…

There was a village tucked in a narrow valley between steep woods.  It wasn’t a large village, and wouldn’t have shown up on a map of the mountains.   It barely showed up on a map of the village.

It was, in fact, one of those places that exist merely so that people can have come from them… Often there is no more than a little plaque to reveal that, against all gynaecological probability, someone very famous was born half way up a wall. 

‘And you know where it is?’

‘Yes,’ lied Granny, whose grasp of geography was slightly worse than her knowledge of sub-atomic physics.

Anyone watching closely would have noticed strange things happening as she passed by….  A boxful of marzipan ducks on a nearby stall came to life and whirred past the stallholder to land, quacking happily, in the river (where, by dawn, they had all melted: that’s natural selection for you).

Hilta gave her a mystified look, then climbed on her broom and rose slowly and erratically into the shadows among the chimneys.  If broomsticks were cars, this one would be a split-window Morris Minor.

‘No need to take that tone,’ said Granny.  ‘I don’t see why I should listen to that sort of language from a wizard who can’t even answer letters!’

‘Oh’,’ he said.  ‘Oh, I see.  They were from you, were they?’

‘That’s right. I signed them on the bottom.  It’s supposed to be a sort of clue, isn’t it?’

Seven years ago...

Seven years ago today I joined Postcrossing.  It has been a most enjoyable experience.  I've made new friends. 

I've had postcards from all over the world though Africa and South America have been poorly represented. 

I've sent postcards all over the world.

I've interacted with people in 64 different countries...  If you are interested in joining please go to https://www.postcrossing.com/  and see how you set about it.  It's free but you'll need to buy postcards and stamps..

• Postcards by country

• 		Country	Sent	Received	Avg travel (Sent)	Avg travel (Received)
  1		Argentina	1	0	19 days	-
  2		Australia	18	13	13 days	12 days
  3		Austria	8	5	6 days	11 days
  4		Belarus	54	60	20 days	13 days
  5		Belgium	15	15	9 days	8 days
  6		Bosnia-Herzegovina	1	0	29 days	-
  7		Brazil	11	5	14 days	22 days
  8		Brunei	1	0	26 days	-
  9		Bulgaria	2	4	8 days	14 days
  10		Canada	24	21	13 days	11 days
  11		China	45	47	31 days	23 days
  12		Croatia	1	1	8 days	7 days
  13		Cyprus	1	0	15 days	-
  14		Czechia	37	19	10 days	8 days
  15		Denmark	1	1	3 days	4 days
  16		Ecuador	1	0	24 days	-
  17		Estonia	9	5	12 days	9 days
  18		Finland	79	92	9 days	6 days
  19		France	37	31	7 days	9 days
  20		Germany	171	243	8 days	7 days
  21		Greece	3	0	9 days	-
  22		Hong Kong	21	16	17 days	11 days
  23		Hungary	7	0	8 days	-
  24		India	10	4	13 days	8 days
  25		Indonesia	6	4	17 days	12 days
  26		Ireland	2	3	12 days	4 days
  27		Israel	1	0	7 days	-
  28		Italy	13	7	8 days	37 days
  29		Japan	35	29	10 days	9 days
  30		Kazakhstan	1	0	24 days	-
  31		Korea (South)	9	3	13 days	106 days
  32		Latvia	10	4	5 days	9 days
  33		Lithuania	17	17	11 days	6 days
  34		Luxembourg	0	3	-	4 days
  35		Macao	1	0	15 days	-
  36		Macedonia	0	1	-	12 days
  37		Malaysia	12	10	27 days	12 days
  38		Mexico	1	1	170 days	54 days
  39		Moldova	5	0	23 days	-
  40		Netherlands	119	118	6 days	7 days
  41		New Zealand	3	8	10 days	13 days
  42		Norway	5	3	5 days	9 days
  43		Philippines	5	2	23 days	29 days
  44		Poland	39	28	17 days	14 days
  45		Portugal	15	6	7 days	17 days
  46		Romania	3	2	19 days	20 days
  47		Russia	83	149	34 days	20 days
  48		Saint Pierre & Miquelon	0	1	-	16 days
  49		Serbia	0	1	-	22 days
  50		Singapore	10	7	37 days	31 days
  51		Slovakia	8	4	8 days	9 days
  52		Slovenia	1	5	5 days	8 days
  53		South Africa	6	1	69 days	11 days
  54		Spain	18	10	18 days	20 days
  55		Sweden	5	3	7 days	3 days
  56		Switzerland	10	11	7 days	6 days
  57		Taiwan	48	48	20 days	16 days
  58		Thailand	4	3	35 days	16 days
  59		Tunisia	1	0	26 days	-
  60		Turkey	9	7	16 days	22 days
  61		U.S.A.	115	114	12 days	13 days
  62		Ukraine	39	38	15 days	13 days
  63		United Arab Emirates	1	1	17 days	14 days
  64		United Kingdom	17	4	5 days	5 days