17.1.83 Dear Hilary!  Here I am back in Denmark before I return to Norway again where I’ve got a job from 1 Feb. in an old people’s home.  Hope you had a good Christmas and came well into the new year.  I celebrated Christmas in the hospital and new year in Scotland together with my boyfriend.  Now I’ve been busy trying to find somewhere to live in Norway and I finally succeeded.  My new address is c/o ********** Oslo 1, so if you suddenly feel like it you are always welcome to write. Take care Rikke x

This card is 33 years old but the design seems very contemporary – good design is timeless, I guess. Obviously the bike and of course the Danish flag immediately indicate where the card is from, and the colours suggest fresh air, seaside and clean living – things that are associated with Denmark.  It really is a great piece of artwork.

The command of English achieved by many non-native speakers always amazes me – look at the use of the apostrophe in ‘old people’s home’ – there are many born and bred with apostrophes who still would not manage that!

Without these small notes (status updates, if you like) we would have lost touch – the reason for sending me the card was to tell me the new address. People travelled and moved around, as they do today, but if you wanted news and to keep friendships alive, the effort required was considerably more than the click of a mouse and a smiley face!

Rikke is very bright – no surprise that she can use the apostrophe! We met when we were both working in Norway; sometimes it was quite a lonely life as an au pair and it was always good to meet new people. Rikke had a Canadian Maple Leaf badge on her bag and I stopped to speak to her, as I assumed she was Canadian (I was still in regular communication with the Canadian boyfriend at the time). We continue to exchange Christmas cards and Rikke and her family have visited us in the UK a couple of times – our children are now ‘Facebook friends’. I have yet to visit Denmark…