Postcrossing Blog

Last November, a group of Indian postcrossers got together in Mumbai, on 11/11/11. The goal? To bring postcrossers closer together, and create a Postcrossing family in India!

In attendance were exactly 11 postcrossers (what a neat coincidence!): indianfriendszone, seetas, Yuktie, Kanthi, anushankarn, kevindesai777, NishaJ, manojkamat_2005, kaushal, aditicm and Manasi.

Together they wrote and sent postcards with India’s Post special cancelation mark of the day, showed each other their collections, and shared tips on to store and preserve postcards.

Here are a few photos from the event:

Amit S, organizer of the meeting told us that “With all the excitement members didn’t realise how time flew by, some had to rush back home and the others decided to move on to a nearby restaurant for some coffee and snacks and more discussions!”

Time does fly when you’re having fun! :)

PS – Never been to a Postcrossing meetup before? Look up the upcoming meetings on the forum, or set up your own!

Last week, our friend Iris sent us the link to the videoclip below, which brought a big smile to our faces. The song is a little balad called 'I won’t give up’, by Jason Mraz.

The tunes are nice, but what really caught our attention was the amount of stationery displayed in this clip! It’s full of old-school envelopes, stamps, cancelation marks and postcards!

Doesn’t it make you want to write someone a love letter? What are you waiting for? :)

PS – German and/or Chinese users can see the video here or here.

First of all, happy New Year! We hope 2012 brings lots of smiles to your mailbox! We start the year with lovely news: a Postcrossing wedding!

Ivan, the groom, writes on his blog that he met Natalia in a Postcrossing meeting in Ukraine, over a year ago. Since then they’ve done a lot of things together, like a photography course, kayaking, and of course, attending more Postcrossing meetups (like this one in Balaklava).

Last fall, they decided to get married on the 26th of November, and send a lot of cards to their friends. Here are a few photos from that special day:

Don’t they look lovely? Congratulations Ivan and Natalia, and thank you for sharing your story with us!

Meet Nuch, aka iamnuchy! She’s the #1 postcrosser in Thailand, and loves exploring new countries and their mailboxes. Above is a photo of her, taken in Sikkim, India. Here is what she had to say to our spotlight interview:

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

I found out about Postcrossing from Thailand postcard lovers club’s webboard. I think it’s a great idea to write and to receive postcards to/from people all over the world. I love travelling and photography but can’t do much of it, so travelling with postcards fulfills my passion.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

Yes. I’ve been collecting stamps since I was a primary school student. At that time I just collected by cutting all stamps from my parents letters. ^_^ But today I collect only mint stamps because I can’t find any letters in my mailbox anymore. I also do some knitting (just starting to learn how to knit), drawing and cooking.

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

Here is my mailbox, and one of the boxes where I keep my postcards:

And here is my local post office:

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

Difficult to answer…I have too many favorite cards. I enjoy beautiful landscapes and architecture and Panorama views. I always smile when I receive a cute Hello Kitty or Moomin postcard. And I like to learn more about other countries and their mailboxes/postboxes.

What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?

I think everybody likes the act of opening their mailbox and finding some postcards there. I also like the moment of searching a postcard in my stock to match the request.

Have you been surprised by any place that you have received a postcard from or sent a postcard to?

Yes. Uzbekistan, Uruguay, Trinidad and Tobago, Oman, Ivory Coast, etc. Actually, every first postcard from a country which I have never been to!

This is the Night Mail crossing the border,
Bringing the cheque and the postal order,
Letters for the rich, letters for the poor,
The shop at the corner and the girl next door.

Is this poem familiar to you? It’s part of the movie Night Mail, a 1936 documentary film about a LMS (London, Midland and Scottish) Railway mail train.

We’ve talked about the Railway Post Offices before, but on this documentary, you can actually see them in action:

Isn’t it fascinating? The on-board mail sorting, the clip mechanism to snatch the mail bags, the control room… oh! and the British countryside of the 30s!

The poem, which is recited at the end of the documentary is by W. H. Auden. Wikipedia provides some insight about it:

As recited in the film, the poem’s rhythm imitates the train’s wheels as they clatter over track sections, beginning slowly but picking up speed so that by the time the penultimate verse the narrator is at a breathless pace. As the train slows toward its destination the final verse is more sedate.

I hope you enjoyed that glimpse of life on a Railway train!

As for the results of last week’s giveaway, the eight lucky winners are: ladybug513, anitag71, kirimon, lovpinka, leoloco, journeyy, gwyllion and lars. Congratulations!