You've got mail

Manchester, UK

Did you see the photos used in last Friday's post? Not my usual standard to be sure, but they were taken with my phone of postcards I have recently sent. I promised you a while ago I would tell you all about a new old hobby of mine, so here I finally go.

Empress Sissi from Austria

Back in 2006 I joined Postcrossing. A site that promised contact with the world and the only thing you needed to do was send postcards. Easy. And for a couple of years that was what I did: I sent out postcards to strangers all over the world. Australia, Canada, Egypt, Romania, Germany, Norway, even the Netherlands. In return I would get postcards back from strangers from all over the world. 

Lithuania

I preferred to get cards that showed me famous people (living/dead/fictional) of the country or region they were in, but was just as pleased with flowers, animals or city scapes. It was an expensive hobby (the stamps alone cost a small fortune), but it was great fun.

Finland

But then I stopped. Not sure when or why exactly, but I stopped sending cards. And when you don't send cards, you don't get cards. The hobby ended.

United States

Fast forward to earlier this year and I was feeling a bit sorry for myself. My sister had left again and I was on my own. The only mail that was arriving was junk mail and uninteresting official stuff. Then I remembered Postcrossing. I didn't know what my old login details were, but it was easy to create a new profile. Late January I sent out my first five cards to Germany, Japan, USA, Russia and Singapore. 

The Frysian language one from the Netherlands

As soon as one of my cards had arrived (Germany was fastest), I started to receive cards as well. So far I have sent 47 cards (of which 36 have arrived) and received 39. I received a Japanese figure skater, a Russian kosmonaut, a French church, a Taiwanese temple and bees from Manchester. People have written to me in English, German, Dutch and even Frysian (which I don't speak, but can read). They have written about their jobs, their hobbies, their towns. 

Maltese buses

Of course the stamps still cost a fortune and the postcards themselves aren't cheap either. If you can find them to start with! Back in the day it was fairly easy to find postcards, but people don't send them that much anymore, so they have started disappearing. And they have become more expensive as well. Paying over a euro for a single postcard is more norm than exception. 

Canadian Mountie

One day however, I found myself in a second hand shop and their was a whole basket with postcards. Costing only 10 cents each as well, so I went through them and came out with 17 new cards. Since then I have been hitting second hand stores to try and find cards. The biggest haul so far was just last week when I paid one and a half euro for a stack of postcards. After counting them once I got home it turned out I had 65 postcards. 

All cards so far

I use my doors to display the cards received and I am nearly one door (one side) down. Eight more to go before running out of space. Let's see whether I can fill them all. As long as I send, I will receive!

Christmas

I got my first Christmas card today. Not really expected and not from anyone I actually know, since it's part of the Postcrossing scheme.

I joined Postcrossing a few years ago, not really expecting it to work that well, but as you can see from my sister blog (Mara's Wall of Fame) it did. So far I've nearly sent 300 cards and received about the same. It's an expensive hobby, but I do like getting some mail every day!

However getting the first Christmas card before you're even halfway through November is definitely special. Mind you, I like Christmas and always send my cards out around December 6th (straight after Sinterklaas, or Saint Nicholas, which is celebrated on December 5th in the Netherlands).

The card itself is of a cottage and is by Thomas Kinkade. Snowman in front, snow on the roof, all the lights in the cottage on. It makes me wish for a white Christmas, but the chance of that happening in this country are extremely slim! The last time I saw a white Christmas was when I lived in England and then it wasn't white because of the snow, but because of the fog which hung around for nearly a week. And the only time I really saw a proper white Christmas was when I lived in the French Alps during the winter of '91/'92.

I won't expect a white Christmas this year, but I do love the cards and/or films to show that it is possible. It makes my dreams just a little bit more real...

Postcrossing

Receiving a letter or a postcard in this day and age that is not sent via the computer is something of a dying artform I think. When I used to live abroad I loved getting letters. In fact I still have all the letters I ever received since 1983 and no, this doesn't include those awful things you get from the IRS. But ever since the internet came up and up and up and up, the letter has all but disappeared. I can't remember the last time I had a handwritten letter in my mailbox. Mind you, I can't remember the last time I sent one!

Postcards are another matter. When people go on holiday they still tend to send one home and I love getting cards from my parents and friends to tell me they are having a lovely time, with lovely weather and lovely people. Especially since I will invariably be grumpy due to bad weather, awful young people and congested roads.

I send postcards as well. Every time I go somewhere a bit special in my own country or abroad, I will send 6 cards (soon to be 7). Always to the same people as well: my goddaughter A., my goddaughter V. and godson L., my nephew T. and my niece M. and to a German friend of mine, just so she knows I am still kicking about on this planet. Oh and the soon to be: my brother and his wife are expecting another one!

Since over two years now I have also been sending cards to strangers. The idea is simple: sign up, get an address of a stranger, send card. They receive card, register card and then you wait for someone else entirely to send you a card! See? Easy... So far I've received a fair few cards and I especially like the ones with famous people on it. Just to see who is famous in a certain country. And to show that of I've created another little blog. Just to post the cards I've received!! The picture at the top of this post shows the Royal family of Sweden.