INTERESTING POSTCARDS!!

[Valentine Mark Herman]

From time to time we have outbreaks of whether a Postcard is Boring, or not.

“Yes it is”. “No it isn''t.”

“All Postcards are Boring.” “All Postcards are interesting”.

And so on, and so forth.

So, LET'S TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT

Announcing

INTERESTING POSTCARDS!!

Please post your Interesting Postcards here.

And, if you want to, please tell us why you think they are Interesting.

Hopefully, this might interest the many members of this Group (You?!) who haven't shown much interest so far in Boring Postcards.

[Valentine Mark Herman]

INTERESTING DECKCHAIR FROM JEAN-PHILIPPE GILLIOT

Merci/Bedankt, J-P

Why is this interesting, Val?

'Tis interesting because it's the deckchair that King Canute sat on when he tried to turn back the tide to demonstrate his omnipotence.

He failed.

The beach is probably a Belgian one.

King Canute left his chair on the beach and went to drink some Belgian beer which is very potent: I can recommend Duvel, Chimay Blue, and Deliriem Tremens.

SantéProost/Cheers

[Valentine Mark Herman]

TWO MORE FROM JEAN-PHILIPPE GILLIOT TO BRING A BIT OF TITILLATION TO YOUR WEEKEND

Thanks Again J-P!

1. Middelkerke, Belgium

Why is this interesting, Val? It looks pretty uninteresting to me?

You're right, but look at the beach photo, top right, in which nothing much happens.

But if you move along the Belgian coast a bit to Blankenberge, beach scenes are different, so...

2.Blankenberge, Belgium

Why is this interesting, Val?

You're probably expecting me to make some sort of inappropriate and sexist comment about the young lady, but I'm not as the architecture of the hotels and apartments on the sea front (bottom left, in case you can't take your eyes away from the young lady) is much more interesting (if you prefer Belgian resort architecture of the 2nd half of the twentieth century to young ladies)

[Valentine Mark Herman]

TONY HANCOCK .... FROM ALAIN BRIGNULL

Mercy Buckets, Alain

'Why is this an Interesting Postcard, Val?'

One morning last week I rummaged in a box of old cassettes that I found in my studio and found some tapes of  radio programmes that the British comedian recorded for the BBC in the 1950's-60's. I played one -- the first time I had listened to Tony Hancock for about 10 years. Then I went home, and found in my mailbox this Postcard frrom Alain. Serendipity!

[Valentine Mark Herman]

'WOMEN WHO DARED'?  from Mary Gellner

Thanks Mary. You say you more Boring Postcards -- please send me more, Lots Mire: thank you.

This 'Daring Woman' is “Sacajawa (Shoshone, c 1786 – 1812 (who) grew in prominence in the romance to the frontier to be (erroneously) called the chief guide to Lewis and Clark. But her accomplishments are real enough: she accompanied the Lewis and Clark expedition, for which her husband was interpreter and guide, and she enabled the explorers to communicate with many of the tribes they encountered.”

“Why do you find this interesting, Val?” First because I have no idea who Lewis and Clark are – an early folk duo perhaps? Second, because the child on her back should obviously have been at play school. And third because I can't fathom out why she is giving a Nazi salute.

[Bradford]

A Duvel?  I ordered a Duvel at the Café de Pul in A'dam one time and a Scottish lady nearby asked, "Are you from Texas?"  I was amazed at her detective skills.

[Valentine Mark Herman]

A Duvel, Bradford? As both the Scottish and Amsterdam accents can be very hard to undertsand at times, perhaps she thought you were a Devil from Texas.

Whatever you do, avoid Tasmanian Devils like this one:

.

[Valentine Mark Herman]

AERIAL VIEW OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX, ENGLAND -- SENT BY ALAN BRIGNALL, who....

.... until his recent retirment used to work there

'Why is this an Interesting Postcard, Val?'

I must admit that this is of great interest to me, but probably of almost no interest to you. I was at this University for most of the time between 1965 and 1977 – with a year spent in Ottawa, and 6 months in Aarhus, Denmark – as an undergraduate, graduate, postgraduate and lecturer (Assistant Professor). I spent a year living on the top-but-one floor of the last tower block (Keynes Tower) at the bottom right of the Postcard. When I went to Essex U in 1965 it had about 400 students. When I left in 1977 (to teach at a University in the Netherlands) it had about 1400 students. Now it has over 15,000 students.

[Richard Canard]

i7.10.20 Dare Mister Val M.H., ...."The University of Essex"??? ...I spy at least 3 tennis courts.-- that's something but no Colossal Football Stadium (& I am talking "American Football" [ real "football" (concussions & all that goes with it)]...the audacity to label it a "University"(Alan Brignall or not). SinCelery, Richard Canard ..........Post Scriptum: & where is the nearest pub???

[Valentine Mark Herman]

American Football?! What do you expect in the heart of rural England -- baseball? This is 'soccer' (to you Yanks) country. Think David Beckham. Or rather DON't think of David Beckham. The nearest pubs are at the little village of Wivenhoe about 3 miles away, and, from my historical experience, the best ones are the Quay, the Railway Arms and the Greyhound. (On your way  from the University to them when you enter the village you will pass, on your left, Belle Vue Road, where you should, but won't, find a house that has a Blue Plaque on it that says 'Val Herman (1946- ?) artist, writer, wit, etc lived here from 1971-1974;) Ask him nicely, and I'm sure that Alan will join you in a pub tour --especially if you're paying.

[Alan Brignull]

Dire Muster Canard:

https://www.essexstudent.com/americanfootball/

Val, I think your memory is failing you, the pub on the quay is The Rose and Crown. No pub crawls at the moment, not without special permission from BoJo the Virusmaster.

[Valentine Mark Herman]

Thanks fore the correction, Alan. there used to be about 7 or 8 pubs in Wiv and we would attempt to have a pint in each of them some Saturday nights. There used to be a pub whose name I forget, at the corner of Belle Vue Rd (I used to work part-time there, and was on the darts team in the days before I became  British Darts International) sort of facing the Co-Op and opposite what was then Cedric's Garage. Is that pub still there?

[Alan Brignull]

The Park Hotel — no, sorry, it closed years ago, reopened as several varieties of restaurant and wine bar but is now an estate agent (because we didn't have enough of them!). I liked the distinction on bus timetables between "Wivenhoe, Park Hotel" (i.e. Belle Vue Rd) and "Wivenhoe Park, Hotel" (i.e. on Uni Campus)