In these times of stress and anxiety, with most of us pretty much stuck inside now for the duration, we are going to need to find things to do to keep safe and sane (and let’s be fair, there’s only so many times you can shampoo the cat), so as a thank you to those of you who have supported me and this website over many moons now, and so there’s a little something to look forward to each day, there will be, for the foreseeable future, a Daily Postcard for your delectation. The cards are mainly, with a few exceptions, British, French, German, Italian & Austro-Hungarian, the images covering a range of subjects from death and destruction to patriotism, propaganda, romance and humour. Some, such as this one, have nothing worth showing on the reverse; others feature a range of postmarks and censor’s stamps of all sorts, and messages in a range of languages for you linguists to get your teeth into. This first card is a very early one – the artist apparently had no idea what a British Tommy of 1914 looked like so we have a soldier looking more akin to a Boer War serviceman than an Old Contemptible – complete with pith helmet! And a sailor brandishing a cutlass, too! The enemy might be different, but the message, my friends, is as true today as it was back in 1914.
Oh, and never fear, these daily posts will in no way interfere with the general running of this site – there will still be plenty of posts of the usual nature as we continue to visit the cemeteries between Poperinge & Ypres in the coming weeks.
Keep safe, people.
Good luck MF’s
Let’s hope we can resume normality soon.
Cheers Steven. Fingers crossed.
What an excellent idea Sir and congratulations for the conception.
Now my man – for the other side of the postcard I can add: I had a Pith Helmet as one of my early 1950s private Boys School hats (consisting primarily a cap and occasionally the Pith Helmet my mother insisted I have). Thankfully not us, but another Boys School (and my daughter’s) wore Boaters but we were saved the embarrassment of them being hurled around the bus like a Frisbee
Merci Sid! Only came up with the idea two nights ago – keeps this little community up and running and hopefully entertained for a few minutes during difficult times. We used to wear caps, but I remember some schools with boaters and I could have sworn one school wore mortar boards? But never a pith helmet (which we haven’t actually finished with yet, as you will see).
I went to a girls’ grammar school in Epsom in the 1960s and we wore boaters!!
There’s a thought!!
Aaaahhh Mr. MagicFingers,
Brilliant. Simple but highly satisfying!
I will be waiting every day!
Daisy in Bali… self-isolating!
Are you now? Well do it with style and panache…….as best you can. Good vibes sent. And thank you. Even my missus, and she’s a hard taskmaster, thought it was a good scheme. The posts are scheduled for the same time each day, btw. Now, if someone would also comment on the genius of The Daily Podcast/The Daily Postcard – see what I did there – I will sleep happy tonight.