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Blog > Postcrossing Spotlight: ichabodhides in the UK!

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Anu (aka ichabodhides) comes from Finland, but moved to the UK some years ago for love… which she discovered on a martial arts’ class! :)

Here is her spotlight interview:

How did you come across Postcrossing? What got you hooked?

I had been aware of Postcrossing for a while before I actually decided to sign up. I think I first read about it in a magazine, quite possibly the magazine the Finnish postal services distribute to every household every so often. I was finishing my university studies at the time and was quite stressed about my master’s thesis so I thought it would be nice to find something other than just bills in my mailbox. I used to write a lot of letters and I still do that occasionally (but am a pretty rubbish pen pal these days), but postcards are a lot quicker to write. I’ve always enjoyed sending and receiving postcards and family and friends used to send me postcards from their holidays even before I had heard of Postcrossing and I still have a lot of these postcards saved.

I got hooked pretty much immediately – it was great to hear from new people all around the world and look at the pretty pictures on postcards I received.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

My main interest outside of Postcrossing is Aikido, a Japanese martial art. I’ve been practicing since 2005 and am currently a 2nd Dan black belt. Aikido has been a pretty life-changing experience for me – it’s the reason I live in England now and I met my husband there. I joined a university Aikido club when I was an Erasmus exchange student in England in 2005–2006. I met Matt (now my husband) there and fell in love. I had to go back to Finland to finish my studies but moved back to England in early 2008 once I had graduated. Matt and I are currently living with his family and their 6 cats, 2 Labrador puppies and a rabbit. We got married in 2011 and our wedding was accidentally (??) a little Aikido-themed. Most of my friends are from Aikido as well so it plays a pretty major role in my life. I still practice at the university as they allow ex-students to continue practicing but we might have to find somewhere else next year unfortunately.

Apart from Aikido I also enjoy crocheting, cooking and baking, reading and watching tv shows & movies on my laptop.

Show us your mailbox, your mailman/mailwoman, your postoffice or the place where you post or keep your postcards!

We don’t have a “proper” mailbox at home, just a slot in the front door.

mymailbox

I go to a few post offices in my area when I need to buy stamps or send something slightly bigger than a regular postcard or an envelope. The one here, inside a shop, is one I visit quite often as I live quite close and the queues aren’t usually too bad.

postoffice

This is the mail box I normally use to send my cards as it’s the closest to where I live.

mailbox
Show and tell us about your favorite received postcard to date, and what makes it special.

I couldn’t possibly pick just one postcard as I’ve received so many great ones. However, the first one I ever received, CH-8925 from Switzerland, has a special place in my heart – I still remember how excited I was to receive it! Zasa and I have swapped a few postcards since and occasionally still bump into each other online, which makes it all even nicer.

CH 8925

A few other postcards I particularly like:

postcards1

From left: FI-1033072 from Sirks, FR-46083 from thaddee_calisson, GB-44737 from toucans.

postcards2

From left: AU-25762 from Claire, NP-346 from spellbindguy, FI-544673 from veverka.

What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?

I enjoy sending just as much as receiving and like to try to match the recipients’ wishes whenever I can. I also like to use nice stamps whenever I can although this isn’t very easy at times because British post offices don’t always have particularly good selections of nice stamps available.

Have you met any other members in real life?

Yes. Pipey from the UK, Astrid1978 from the Netherlands, duffeli from Finland and a few other Finnish Postcrossers I met in a mini meet-up in Helsinki some years ago, and quite a lot of Postcrossers in international meet-ups in London a few years ago as well.

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30 comments so far

Sunneva12, Norway

great spotlight interview! enjoyable to read! :-)

happy postcrossing!

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YiliLoh, Malaysia

Thanx for sharing! Have a good weekend and happy postcrossing!!! :)

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kugusch, Germany

It's always nice to read a bit more about the people I "know" from the forums. Thanks for sharing!

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paraiha, Finland

So nice to read about you and your life, thank you!

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Rohtola, Finland

Olipa mukava yllätys! Nice to see you here!

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rosenbusch, Germany

Thank you for sharing. Interesting spotlight....

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emoffdayz, United States of America

Great story thank you for sharing it and keep it up what you enjoy and happy postcrossing :)

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idus, Germany

Great interview! :)

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aberline, Australia

Hi anu! What a great door you have! Interesting to hear about your martial art, my hubby is a 2nd Dan black belt too... In MMA.

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islander61, Bahamas

Enjoyed reading this and seeing the photos of the door with mail-slot and pretty glass, and the red mail box. Was also surprised on a London visit to find a post-office tucked away in a little store.

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Veide, Russia

Very interesting interview! Great to read about people, who you know from forum.

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Bosnian_Butterfly_, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Nice to see you here, Anu.

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Matthew07, Malaysia

Hello Anu. Great interview. :)

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displayname, United Kingdom

Finding good UK stamps has become such a problem for me i now resort to buying tourist postcard-only stamps (http://www.universalmail.co.uk/gallery/ ). they're easy to get in london at places tat sell postcards, but in Cornwall no one had ever heard of them.

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Meulikki, Sweden

Mukava tavata sinua taas pitkästä aikaa!
Toivottavasti taas kuullaan jossain hipassa tms.
Anu is a great person and a nice postcrosser!

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Antosie, United States of America

A very interesting website because its always nice to read all the comments. Your door is fabulous!

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DennyP, Australia

Always great to read of other postcrossers likes and lives..Thanks for sharing. I recently decided it was time to put all my postcards on a blog.. A very interesting project this last winter..so is an ongoing hobby now..I have made many friends and postcard exchangers on Postcrossing.. a great concept..Thanks postcrossing..

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fisherman, Ireland

Great to see you here Anu - Lovely interview !

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dollart, Finland

Kiva haatattelu. Avopuolisoni Juha on ollut jo pitkällä tauolla Aikidosta. Kiva että se antaa sinulle paljon elämääsi :) Oli kiva tavata silloin Lontoon miitissä.

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nisnoopy3, Malaysia

Hi! I remember your unique nickname from the forum. Nice seeing you here! :D

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lucymonty, United Kingdom

I love the knitted Eiffel Tower card! Great interview, and a belated welcome to the UK Anu. Always nice to see the good old red postbox :-D

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BraveJ, Serbia

Anu, it's great to see you here! I love the interview! :D

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nugget, United States of America

Nice interview. Thanks for sharing.

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nediam_nori, Finland

Anu, so nice to see you in spotlight :)

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grenzgebiete, Germany

Wow! I love Aikido, too, and have been practising it some years ago! It must be lovely to live on the Isle of Skye,I´ve been there and liked it very much!

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isagvproject, Germany

again a great spotlight. :)

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zhouxiaoqing, China

happy postcrossing!

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AllSerene, United Kingdom

Lovely to see you featured Anu! I generally get my stamps directly from Royal Mail, either off their website or by phone (which allows you greater flexibility about which stamps you want).

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ichabodhides, United Kingdom

Thank you so much everyone for your nice comments!

displayname: I've never seen Universal Mail stamps sold where I live, otherwise I'd buy them. I wonder if they're only available in more touristy places?

GIBSONMS: When you say 'old', how old do you mean? The smaller post offices I've been to here haven't had any better stamp selections unfortunately.

dollart: Muistankin sinun kertoneen, että avopuolisosi harrastaa myös aikidoa. Toivottavasti tauon syynä ei ole ainakaan loukkaantuminen?? :(

grenzgebiete: I've never been to the Isle of Skye, I imagine it must be very beautiful there, though.

AllSerene: I do occasionally buy stamps off the Royal Mail website. I don't like having to pay the postage charges, though, because stamps are already really expensive so I'd have to buy a lot of stamps at the same time to try and justify the extra charge for myself and I can't really afford that. I've been happier when I've managed to find older stamps on ebay below the face value.

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ipuenktchen, Iran

it's always nice to see which are the favorite cards of others! can we agree or not.. for me this is very interesting! and you show several cards to us!

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