holiday

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With love from Pafos, Cyprus (2005)

with love from Paphos

Friday, Dear S,H,T,S,J&G. Just come out of the pool in Bob & Chris’s villa. They have a lovely house and are showing us the sights of Cyprus. Today we went inland & had spectacular views of the countryside. Last night we did quite well in the local quiz – home from home. It’s lovely to relax after our busy schedule – hope all are well. Much love, Mum & Dad

My in-laws are visiting friends who’ve recently moved to Cyprus – they are big quiz fans! Although the card features Pafos (Paphos), it is not clear if this where they are staying.

Interesting to see that the postmark here also reminds us (in English) to use the postcode. The postmark date is 16.05.05 and the stamps are the Refugee Stamp, which continues to be obligatory on all mail, together with a 25 cent stamp from the Jewellery definitive set issued in 2000

An earlier card from Simon’s parents.

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With love from Cordoba, Spain (1987)

with love from Cordoba

Dear Hilary – Ursula talked me into a second holiday, so here we are in Spain. Have just arrived in Granada, having been to Cordoba & Seville. We’re going to stay here 2 days, then back to Malaga to souvenir hunt, & lie on a beach for an afternoon. We’re in Spain for a week & it’s a revelation – v. beautiful with wonderful sightseeing and everything v. cheap. Love to Simon x Anne xx

Anne is loving southern Spain and making the most of her visit.

Part of Mezquita Cathedral is pictured on the front of the card and the 40 pesetas of stamps feature King Juan Carlos I from the 1976-84 definitive series.

I must make the effort to see Anne again…

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With love from Isle of Wight (1990)

With love from Carisbrooke

Dear Hilary & Simon Quite a nice change Have never been to I.O.W. So glad I am going to be a great, great aunt Love Auntie Laura

The postmark is not clear, however I know that it was 1990 as that is the year our daughter was born.

We do not learn whether Auntie Laura visited Carisbrooke Castle, featured on the front!

A 20p stamp commemorates the Stamp World Exhibition held in London that year.

Auntie Laura seemed excited at the prospect of an additional ‘great’ in front of her name 🙂

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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 Costa Brava, Spain (1979)

with-love-from-spain

Dear Hiraly, we are in beautiful sunny Spain and having a great time. We’re staying in the place on the front of the postcard. I’ve put a dot & a cross where I think our villa is. It’s a bit hard to distinguish one from another at that distance but never mind! So far I haven’t had time to write postcards but I’ve got a headache at the moment which really throbs so I haven’t been swimming. Too much sun I expect! I’m convinced I’ve got sunstroke though! I’ve bought myself some snorkelling stuff (very cheap here) and we (me, Neil, Ally, Paula, our friends) went snorkelling off the rocks. It was great fun. We saw shoals of fish, black very spiky sea urchins which I so cleverly got stuck in her big toe despite wearing plastic sandals. Luckily we managed to get most of it out. Trust me. I’d better go there’s not much space left as you can see. Hope to see you at end of summer love Jackie xxx PS Neil saw an octopus. I’ve never got of the sea so fast.

Another card from Jackie with her distinctive method of writing all around the edge and back across the top! Despite feeling under the weather she’s managed to pack a lot of news and anecdotes into the space.  The cross she refers to is just visible to the right of the trunk and on the wooded area in the distance; the dot is just below it.

The postmark date is 16 06 1979 and the stamp is one of a set of three encouraging us all to save energy.

Porta de la Selva is featured on the front and still looks much the same although that tree might have gone now!

Jackie was seemingly quite a prolific card writer and enjoyed many holidays with her family.

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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 Saint-Palais-Sur-Mer, France (1988)

with love from Saint Palais sur Mer

Having a great time, very hot here, sea not quite rough enough but did surfing yesterday. John has just replaced his rubber dinghy that he wrecked yesterday. The site is lovely, quiet, clean & very convenient & plenty of room (unusual for French sites). We are eating outside all the time, barbecuing & drinking every evening – very relaxing after the activity at home. Love J P R & C

The last sentence says it all – we can picture the evening sun on the caravan site and practically smell the barbecue as we read!

Postmarked ’17 LES MATHES 16h 45 28-7-1988 CHARENTES MARITIME’ the card features a view of Le Pont du Diable au Platin, which is a popular natural feature of Saint-Palais-Sur-Mer on the Atlantic coast of France.

The stamp is 2 franc 20c featuring the famous Liberté de Gandon engraving which appeared on French stamps between 1982 and 1990

This is another card from J,P,R & C.  John, once again features, as a middle aged man who has ‘wrecked’ his rubber dinghy in the surf!  This comes as no surprise to me – during the 70’s our family and theirs spent many happy holidays in Cornwall; a big feature of these holidays was John and my Dad endlessly pushing us children over the surf in a rubber dinghy and, inevitably, us squealing with laughter as we were tipped out.  

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With love from Venice (1977)

With love from Venice 1977

Dear Hilary, Thanks for the letter, I will write as soon as we get home. As you’ve probably noticed we’re in Venice. So far we’ve seen St. Marks Square (and avoided the very low flying pigeons!) sailed up the grand canal and got lost in the back streets. Next week we are going to Pompei, Vesuvius and Herculaneum. We are staying at a very modern hotel with a swimming pool! love to everyone Jackie xx p.s. There’s loads of tall, dark, handsome Italian boys!

Post marked ‘SIENA 14 LUG 1977’ (14th July 1977) this card was obviously posted once they’d moved on from Venice. It carries stamps to the value of 130 Lire, the currency of Italy prior to the Euro.

From the text it sounds as though Jackie is having a thoroughly exciting time; showing particular enthusiasm for the ‘modern hotel’ WITH swimming pool! Being teenage girls our interest in boys was significant – mention of the ‘loads’ of eye candy in Italy would, no doubt, have made me quite jealous at the time 😉

I have lost touch with Jackie and, despite various internet searches, as yet I have been unable to reconnect with her.

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with love from Ilfracombe (1976)

with love from Ilfracombe

To Hilary, I’m having a great time. On Sun we went on some go-karts motor ones it was great fun. Today we went to Arlington Court and yesterday we went to Lynmouth and Lynton. Tonight we might go fishing. The farms nice and they have a lamb that comes to you and 3 horses and sheep, cows and chicks bye for now Helen.

As this is postmarked ‘Tunbridge Wells 1.15pm 9 Aug 1976 Kent’ it would appear to have been posted after Helen returned from her trip to Devon. The other postmark reads ‘National Savings Diamond Jubilee 1916-1976 Go on saving at The Post Office’ – the Post Office promoting its savings schemes.

The stamp is 8½p – the price for a 2 ounce (57g) first class letter at the time, equivalent to 64p in 2015; a small postcard stamp would have cost 6½p (49p in 2015)

Helen went to Devon regularly, often staying on farms it seems. Ilfracombe remains much the same with that beautiful blue sky on the odd summer’s day; the white Royal Britannia Hotel on the right hand side is still a popular place to  stay.

I am increasingly sad that I lost touch with Helen, as we obviously exchanged cards for some years after I moved away from the area where we were at primary school together. 

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with love from Costa Brava (1986)

With love from Costa Brava

Tuesday  Dear Simon & Hilary, We didn’t quite make it to the Greek Isles but we’re still on the Mediterranean in an apartment outside Estartit. It is very quiet here and not too far from the beach. We’ve been to a local market and a few towns & have booked trips to Montserrat, Gerona and a flamenco show. The weather is very warm – even at night, although it is rather windy which makes swimming in the sea quite tricky. We have been eating out a lot & discovered everything said about the Spanish waiters is true! Love to you both, Sue xxx

Post marked ‘L’Estartit 18 Sept 86 Girona’ with the additional post mark message ‘CONSIGNE EN SUS ENVIOS EL CODIGO POSTAL’ which I believe roughly translates to ‘Always use the post code’.

It carries two 20 peseta stamps featuring King Juan Carlos

Lots of information is being shared, although there is no clue as to why they didn’t make it to Greece; likewise no clue as to who is with her on holiday – their name is excluded from the signature so I can only assume that we did not know her travelling companion.

The picture is not referenced on the reverse but, having visited the area some years ago, I can confirm that it is typical of the rocky coast of the Costa Brava which features many, tiny hidden coves and is probably best explored from the water.

Having studied the sweep of the ‘S’ and the style of the ‘E’ I am confident that this is not the Paris Sue. Amazingly I do not remember this Sue either! As she has addressed Simon first I suspect she was a friend of his, but he cannot shed any light. So, once again, I have to admit to losing touch with Sue 😦