Denmark

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With love from Denmark (1981)

with love from Denmark

Hello Hilary! I send you many greetings from the danish island Møn. I stay here with 5 friends. We rent a house very near to the sea and the beach. The weather has been very good for the whole week and I got very brown. I’ll soon write more. Yours Claudia

This card from Møn is postmarked ‘STEGE 14.30 8 8 1981’ and carries a 1 krone 30 stamp commemorating the oldest Danish coin.

Claudia is enjoying some good weather in Denmark; she sent this card to me not long after I’d arrived in Norway.

There are now many cards posted here from Claudia – she continues to communicate regularly although these days it is usually via WhatsApp 🙂

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With love from P&O Aurora (2016)

with-love-from-the-aurora

Tuesday 5th Settled in to a great time on board Aurora!  Just arrived in Copenhagen after two sea days – flat, calm.  Walking one or two miles a day on promenade deck.  High quality concert yesterday – opera – Gilbert & Sullivan.  Like the balcony cabin!  Much love, Mum & Dad xx

We received this card back in July (2016) from Simon’s Mum & Dad who were enjoying, to the full, their Baltic cruise aboard the Aurora.

Postmarked Danmark, the card took some time to arrive – presumably due to the lack of stamp!

I suspect this card is freely available on all the P&O ships so that passengers can spread the word to friends and family – a picture of the ship would be preferable, in my opinion.

Another one from Simon’s parents, who continue to enjoy a full life…

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with love from Cambridge (1982)

With love from UK

Do you know where this card comes from? I hope you are enjoying the summer in Norway, this could have been better, but of course I haven’t come to look at the weather. I am here to work! The hospital seems all right and I hope I will like it here but I think I will. You are still welcome to visit me here, and write me when you come back. Love Rikke

Of course we know where this card comes from! Interesting choice of image to send from historical Cambridge. There’s the inevitable weather mention, together with news of Rikke’s new job and life.

It’s postmarked ‘Cambridge 1 July 1982’ and also carries the ‘Be Properly Addressed POSTCODE IT’. The 19½p stamp features Admiral Blake and his ship ‘Triumph’ which is part of the Maritime Heritage series issued in June 1982

Another card from Danish Rikke who left Norway a few months before me to work in Cambridge, UK; at that time and place the Union Jack image would have appealed to me far more than a view of the historical buildings, so she made the right choice! I’m sorry to say that I did not visit her while she was in Cambridge as shortly after my return from Norway I went on to travel with the Canadian. Rikke and I recently exchanged long emails catching up on recent news 🙂

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with love from Denmark (1983)

from Denmark with love 1983

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…