The Daily Postcard No. 33

Talking of food and drink, here’s a peaceful scene, as French troops brew up (or whatever the French equivalent is) outside a French tavern, but it’s the Dubonnet sign that attracts the eye. 

Just as it is meant to.  Advertising on postcards is nothing new, this card one of the ‘1914-1915 Collection “Dubonnet”‘.

This entry was posted in Postcards. Bookmark the permalink.

18 Responses to The Daily Postcard No. 33

  1. Sid from Down Under says:

    Non Non – look at the blazing fire and steaming witches cauldron – they’re brewing/distilling Grappa and the Dubonnet sign is just a well-practiced military ploy

  2. Nick Kilner says:

    One cannot have coffee in France without a little snifter, I think it may be against the law lol
    Another very nice card, or should that be carte?

  3. Margaret Draycott says:

    Were we? I think your right Nick. Sid is there no end to your knowledge please tell what is Grappa.
    Interesting card given the houses around could they not have gone inside to brew up.

    • Nick Kilner says:

      Grappa is awful stuff, its like drinking ethanol! lol

      • Magicfingers says:

        There’s a man who clearly knows his ethanol.

        • Nick Kilner says:

          I always liked pear drops as a child 😉
          We use to have a guy called Hubert who help with the dig site at Hulluch and as he lived locally we were often invited back to his house for a drink in the evening. At some point his homemade Calvados would come out and everyone got a shot. Unfortunately it seems no one told him you are suppose to pour the first distillation off, as it’s virtually neat ethanol. It was certainly something of an acquired taste. Really nice fella, but little wonder he was as mad as a box of frogs really. Hopefully you’ll meet him and AnSo when we do the Loos tour.
          As I’m sure you’re aware, the expression ‘blind drunk’ came about because the ethanol in moonshine actually damages your eyesight to the point that if you drink enough of it, you will go permanently blind.

          • Magicfingers says:

            I’m not so sure I knew that, or at least the detail. And I do hope so (re: the Loos trip). I have a cat who looks like a pear drop – you may have met Amelia……

    • Sid from Down Under says:

      Margaret I love you for recognising my intelligence but to be truthful, my wife is far more knowledgeable than I (well, she regularly beats me in “test your knowledge” questions) – my reference to Grappa was a poor attempt at humour. Grappa is distilled – not “brewed in a cauldron”. Particularly a popular Italian and Portuguese alcoholic beverage but we jokingly apply the name to any drink that is strong – often in Australia made in illegal stills among the “old ethnic” community. What they make is dynamite – VERY high alcoholic content – I was once given a flagon of this homemade stuff and one sip nearly blew my head off so I poured the rest down the toilet and it was a wonderful cleaner.

      Nick – likewise I love your snifter – MF’s postcards offer such beautiful interpretation alternatives in these Lock down days – albeit ours are now very slightly lifted under threat of if they are abused the severe lock down will be reapplied. Sadly we are importing several hundred people returning to our State shores and as a result authorities expect a “spike”

  4. Guy Blythman says:

    Just logging in for the first time…

    • Magicfingers says:

      So you are! Welcome Guy. Lots to explore here.

    • Nick Kilner says:

      Welcome. Our host is currently running a daily series of his WW1 postcards to keep us regulars amused and entertained during the lockdown, but if you explore you’ll find a whole world of tours. Enjoy, it’s an amazing site

  5. Margaret Draycott says:

    Welcome Guy what brought you to the site? Do you have a specific interest? There’s certainly lots to explore on here.

    Thanks for the explanations guys sounds pretty horrendous stuff can’t think why anyone would want to drink it. Must leave one hell of a hangover. I’m an occasional glass of Rose person myself.

    Shouldn’t they go into quarantine for 2 weeks Sid surely you won’t just let them loose on the streets. Stay safe.

    • Sid from Down Under says:

      Yes Margaret, they will be going into quarantine – if like the cruise ship people they’ll be put into four and five star hotels for the duration (at taxpayer cost) while we mere mortals, who have done no wrong, have to support ourselves as normal. We’ve got down to zero new cases but have been warned to expect a spike from these returners – strangely “imported” cases be they Australian or visitors, get registered as “ours” – not from where they caught it.

  6. Daisy in Indonesia says:

    Hello all, including Guy… welcome to one of the best military history sites on the internet.
    Translations;
    Scene D’avant Poste; Outpost scene.
    Yes, peaceful but I worry about the Germans spotting the smoke and sending over a shell to mix with their Coq au Vin. Must be well behind the front line and an early depiction for nobody wearing an Adrian.
    The best I can come up with for ‘brew up’ is brasser jusqu’à…
    When I was a kid my Dad had some Italians friends and we always drank their Grappa which I believe originally came out of Italy. It was known to cure many ailments from your mouth all the way to the other end…
    Daisy

    • Sid from Down Under says:

      Daisy – your last sentence brings to mind two suggestions: 1) Grappa is more “cleaning” than a “cleansing ale” 🙂 2) With the current COVID instruction to often use alcoholic based sanitizer to kill germs on hands then the logical extension must be that to kill germs within the entire internal pipeline from mouth to “other end” then drinking Grappa would be a very good sanitizer …. me I prefer wine which means to be cleansing safe, I need to drink far more to achieve the same alcoholic content as in a shot of Grappa … makes sense? 😛 (hope this emoticon works)

      • Magicfingers says:

        I thought we were all supposed to be injecting bleach!! Have I got that wrong?

        • Sid from Down Under says:

          No not you – he got it wrong – should have said “Grappa” and that way he’d get the economy going with cottage industry back yard distilleries with everyone going around in a stupor saying how great he is (I shouldn’t say that because right now we’re forging even stronger post-COVID ties with the USA – actually you’d probably be surprised – the top three foreign investors in Australia are USA … UK … Belgium)

    • Magicfingers says:

      Daisy, my man!!!! I thankee.

Leave a Reply to Nick Kilner Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.