family

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With love from Valbonne-Village (2005)

with love from Valbonne

27th of Jan 05 Dear Hillary, Thanks for a long and informative letter with a nice picture of a fantastic family! You manage to do so much and have so much enthusiasm… Next week Eivind and I will visit [son] five days skiing in Verbier. Lots of love and good wishes, from Vibeke  It has been snowing for some days. I only stay 3 days, fortunately.

On the front of the card are scenes of the picturesque Valbonne area, where Vibeke is staying.

The card is postmarked ‘NICE 31 01 05 ALPES MARITIMES’ and carries the Marianne du 14 Juillet stamp.

Another card from Vibeke in response to my earlier letter. This one was sent some 23 years after I left Norway. At the time, I was in full swing with my own family and probably considerably influenced by the experience of living and working within Vibeke’s own enthusiastic, busy and active household!

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With love from Algarve, Portugal (1986)

with love from Portugal

Dear Hilary & Simon, Weather lovely Having a good time I suffered losing a stone for my holiday I will put 25 stone on the food is fab Love Auntie Laura

A short and sweet note featuring our favourite topics of the weather and food!

The card is postmarked ’25-VI 1986 Armacao‘ and carries a selection of stamps, two of which are from the Traditional Portugal Architecture series and one from the Development of Technology series, issued in 1978

Auntie Laura was my great aunt, she was married to my Nan’s brother. We saw them regularly at family gatherings when I was young, and they were fun to be around. Auntie Laura was a rock within her own immediate family; she died some years ago.

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With love from Yorkshire (1989)

with-love-from-yorkshire

21/7/89 Dear Simon & Hilary, We are enjoying an excellent week in the Yorkshire Dales, not very far from Grassington.  The weather has been superb and we have been on numerous walks in umpteen places.  We are planning a week in Blaenau following a week at home.  Hope you are enjoying a holiday yourselves, much love Uncle Don & Auntie Morfudd

Look at the cars in this picture – they really date the card!  The picture is of Grassington, a popular base from which to explore the Yorkshire Dales, and on this occasion the good weather has obviously helped.

The card carries a 19p first class stamp.

Uncle Don & Auntie Mor are Simon’s aunt & uncle.  Don is the younger brother of Simon’s mum, and he has always shown a great interest in Simon and his brother, Paul.

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With love from Shanklin (1988)

with-love-from-shanklin

Spending a week with a local Probus Group in Sandown for one week.  Excellent hotel & good service.  Quite warm at the moment & air like wine.  Love Auntie Vi

Postmarked ‘Portsmouth & Isle of Wight 9 MAY 1988’ this is another brief status update from (Great) Auntie Vi.  The important things are mentioned, of course; the weather and the quality of the hotel 🙂

I’ve never heard of Probus and, with the ignorance of youth and the lack of Wickipedia back in the day, I probably never bothered to find out about it in 1988!  Auntie Vi was a professional, intelligent woman and always sought out like minded people.

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With love from Canary Islands (1982)

with-love-from-canary-islands

Dear Hilary, You will gather I’ve made it to the sun, well some sun, but also cloud, but it is warm.  The Island is beautiful – gorgeous flowers in profusion.  The Atlantic seems always to be in fury.  I tried to swim in it one day but the undercurrents were frightening so have stuck to the pool.  Hope all is well with you, love Auntie Joyce

What an evocative and descriptive status update from back in the day – the picture on the front confirms the colourful flowers and we can imagine the waves crashing to the shore!

Postmarked ’18 FEB 82 TENERIFE’ the card carries 20 pesetas of stamps featuring King Juan Carlos I from the 1976-84 definitive series.

It is unclear which of the Canary Islands Joyce is visiting, but the postmark suggests that it is Tenerife.

This is an earlier card from Auntie Joyce who appears to be holidaying alone on this occasion.  She has always loved cultivating flowers in her garden and is continually on the look out for new varieties.  I remember that Auntie Joyce was a strong swimmer; it seems that she was wise to stick to the pool.  About 6 months ago some of my family met Auntie Joyce with members of her family for a bit of a reunion and a saunter down memory lane – it was good to catch up 🙂

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With love from South Devon (2016)

with-love-from-south-devon

11.9.16 Dear Hilary, Simon & Gus We’ve arrived safely & this cottage is fine but in the back of beyond with no mobile connection/service. However, tomorrow we are going further afield so hope to reply to your text at least Gus. Glad you recognised my talent! ☺ Hope weekend in Manchester has gone well too & the visit to Bangor. The weather is lovely & we’re all happy. Much love Mum & Dad xxx

Following on from previous post, this card shows the restored steam train that runs along the beautiful Dart Valley. It is not clear whether Mum & Dad travelled on the train, indeed, there is no news at all of what they have been doing on their trip, apart from seeking mobile signal it would seem!

There is no postmark, just a biro mark across the stamp indicating that the card has gone through the UK postal system and the stamp cannot be reused.

A recent card from my parents who continue to enjoy travelling, as well as embracing both modern and traditional methods of communication well into their eighties 🙂

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With love from Torquay (circa 2004)

with-love-from-torquay

Hi, Greetings from Devon. The site is well equipped but big (and lots of Sun reader types!). Weather has been good so far (apart from putting the tent up in the rain). Have done some lovely walks and tomorrow is a boat trip up the river Dart.  Hope you’re all well, love John Joanne A & P

With no date and an illegible postmark it’s impossible to say when this card was sent, so I am guessing 2004 or thereabouts.

Torquay is on the South Devon coast and is part of what is known as the ‘English Riviera‘ due to its generally sunny, warm weather, which makes it a very popular holiday destination.

This is a later card from my brother, John, who is enjoying a camping holiday with his wife and children.

 

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With love from Market Harborough (1097)

with-love-from-canals

Weather OK so far – scenery very changeable. Went through Leicester yesterday but are back in the countryside today.  Been through 77 locks so far – only another 120 to go! Glad I’m the Galley Slave! John’s the Captain. Regards Jo & John

The picture shows the famous and challenging Foxton Locks in Leicestershire (UK), which continue to be a popular destination for canal users and onlookers today.

Clearly postmarked ‘LOUGHBOROUGH 17 SEP 1987’ the card also carries another postmark reminding us to ‘Pass on your postcode’ – it was now more than 10 years since postcodes became a requirement on UK mail and we still needed reminding!

Jo & John again, who, as I recall, went on several canal boat holidays and were so enthusiastic about them that Simon and I decided to try it one year 🙂 

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With love from Val d’Isère (1991)

with-love-from-val-disere

Dear Hilary & Simon, sorry you are not here, skiing and resort are absolutely 1st class, Only bad part so far was a 9 hour coach transfer. chalet idea is really good, food excellent. Andy & Kevin both wish you could have made it, but who knows, next year? Hope things are under control with you. Take care, love John.

Another card from Val d’Isère and John, together with Kevin and Andy, is obviously enjoying the resort.  The text here indicates that we should have been with them on the trip.

The card is postmarked 1991 and carries the 1989 Marianne de Briat definitive stamp.

John is my brother; we learnt to ski as children in the 1970’s with our forward thinking parents, who took us on several package trips to Austria, when ‘winter sports’ holidays were something of a novelty.  Simon and I were due to be on this trip to Val d’Isère, but the UK was in the midst of a recession at the time and our bank manager, more or less, forbade us to go.  We should have ignored him and gone anyway; the end result was the same! 

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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…