BORING POSTCARDS

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Comment by Katerina Nikoltsou (MomKat) on February 20, 2020 at 2:36pm

From MIM, heading your way, Valentine.

(Mim says she has a whole box full!)

Comment by Valentine Mark Herman on February 20, 2020 at 1:53pm

THREE MORE FROM MIKEL UNTZILLA

Thanks Mikle, once again

Where do you keep finding all these great Boring Postcards?

1. 'Sledge Dogs (Greenland)' [even the dogs look Bored, methinks]

2. 'Parc national des volcans (Boulogne-Billancourt, France)'

3. 'Chitral Valley (Pakistan)'

Comment by Valentine Mark Herman on February 20, 2020 at 1:43pm

TWO FROM CARIEN VAN HEST

Bedankt, Carien!

1. L'Eglise, Lamastre (Ardeche, France)

2. Adams Hotel, Phoenix, Arizona'

Comment by John Gayer on February 14, 2020 at 4:33pm

Me thinks I don't know what to think!

Comment by Valentine Mark Herman on February 14, 2020 at 4:28pm

"FIVE SOMETHINGS FOR THE WEEKEND,SIR?"

Number 1: From Res, "Set Yourself Free" [from what?]

(Sometimes you need the info on the back of the Boring Postcard, and this is one of those times. 'Set Yourself Free' is a promotion for the Caalifornia Rail Pass ($99 for 7 days, $159 for 21 days). "It's your ticket to freedom". But why Amtrak then pictures 2 people pretending to be birds or planes on a beach, and not a train, is not at all clear to me.

Number 2 From Alan Bignall, A Boring Postcard from a Boring Game, "Golf Links. Theydon Bois"

Number 3: From Mikel Untzilla -- featuring Sisyphus and friend -- "Shaking Rock at Mt Seolog, Korea"

Number 4: also from Mikel U, "The junior geyser, Strokkur, starting to spout, South Iceland"

Number 5, yet again from Mikel , "Etruscan Jewerly" (sic)

Thanks Alan, Thanks res, Thanks Mikel.

Comment by Valentine Mark Herman on February 8, 2020 at 7:52pm

THREE MAGNIFICENT BORING POSTCARDS FROM MIKEL UNTZILLA

'Gemstones', from The Sanctuary Currumbin Beach, Gold Coast, Queensland, Oz

'Panorama of the Petroleum Industry', Talara, Peru

'Wairakei Geothermal Power Scheme, New Zealand'. (This picture shows some of the miles of pipes and silencers which conduct steam to the power station where it is used to drive turbines for the production of 151,000 kilowatts of electric power')

Comment by Valentine Mark Herman on February 3, 2020 at 6:04pm

Thanks Alan,

Of course A6 existed then, and a long time before, as you can see from the instructions next to the original Post Office at the southern base of the Great Pyraid of Giza which was completed about 2550 BC. Tutankhaman's uncle was the first post Master.

A few years later, well in 1870, the first British Postcards were officially issued, but some earlier, 'home-made' ones were sent in 1840 when the Penny Black postage stamp was issued.

Comment by Valentine Mark Herman on February 3, 2020 at 5:55pm

Here is a Boring Postcard of a French Bathing Beauty:

I have no idea who she is. But this Seaside Boring Postcard reminded me that when I went to stay with my grandparents at Hove (Susses, England) in the mid-1950's there were professional photographers who would ply their trade on the beaches. They worked like this.

They would take your photo (whether you wanted it taken or not) on the beach or promenade today, and when you passed the same spot tomorrow it would be numbered and hung up –with hundreds of others – for you to order copies of. Or not, as you were under no obligation to buy. But if you did buy one or more postcards of yourself, you could send your very own 'Having a lovely time, wish you were here, etc' message.

Here is one such postcard of my uncle and aunt taken in 1938. The 'giveaway' to it's origin is the ID no 'W4186' at the bottom left of the card

And, while I'm recycling old family Boring Postcards and bothering you with all this nonsense, here's a Boring (studio) Postcard of me aged 3:

Comment by Alan Brignull on February 3, 2020 at 5:30pm

Boring and pedantic but maybe inaccurate as well, Val. A6 didn't exist in the nineteenth century. The old British postcard size was 5½ x 3½", but now there's no postcard rate any more you can make them almost any size.

PS does that Generic card really weigh only .2 grams?

Comment by Valentine Mark Herman on February 3, 2020 at 4:35pm

Dear Res,

Thank you for sending me this truly Boring Postcard -- and allow me to be both Boring and Pedantic.

It's the size of this Generic Post Card -- 4 x 6 (presumably inches) -- that troubles me.

I seem to remember (though I can't find it on le Net) that when the Universal Postal Union met at the end of the 19th century to establish some universal postal standards, it was agreed that the size of postcards would be A6 size , that is 5.8 x 4.1 inches, or 148 x 105 mm.  But the US postal authorities wanted a different size, which is, I guess this 6 x 4 one.

It seems that the 148 x 105 format has been (slightly) changed to 150 x 100 mm, which is the size of many of my postcards. The California one is, however, 152 x 102.

Well, even if you didn't find the Postcard Boring, you probably found this messsage boring. But do forgive me, as it is late Monday afternoon, and I haven't got much else to do (except take the dog for a walk,  but it's raining and he doesn't want to go ou. Nor do I).

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