Postcrossing Blog

The writing prompts invite postcrossers to write about a different topic on their postcards’ messages every month. These are just suggestions though — if you already know what you want to write about, or the recipient gives you some pointers, that’s great too!

This month, let’s talk history.

I agonized over this prompt for a long time, no historical figure seeming quite right… and then a couple days ago over dinner, our friend Tiago (aka ogait) asked: “How about Aristides?” and suddenly I felt really stupid. But of course!

Aristides de Sousa Mendes was a Portuguese consul in southern France when World War II broke out. Portugal was a neutral country and thus an appealing destination for the many people displaced by the war… but these were the dictatorship years. Fearing economic and political chaos, the authoritarian regime in power tightened the border controls and all consulates and embassies were issued strict orders to avoid giving out too many passports and transit visas.

But did Sousa Mendes care? No! He immediately disobeyed the order, on grounds that it was “an inhumane and racist directive”. Despite being officially reprimanded, he continued issuing thousands of visas to refugees who flocked to his embassy in Bordeaux. He was eventually called back to Lisbon, where he was trialed and suffered disciplinary punishments.

The regime took credit for receiving all those refugees, and history books of the time mention the benevolence of the dictator… but in reality, it was Sousa Mendes (and a few people like him) who disobeyed the law and made Portugal a safe haven for many. Alas, they never made a movie about him(*), and his role in history was only recognized many decades later, when it was discovered that he had granted over 30,000 people safe passage to Portugal.

So… which historical character of your own country would you pick? We invite you to share something about a national historical figure in the postcards you send out this month.

(*) I stand corrected: Jéssica (aka J2404Pt) sent me a nice message to let me know they did make a movie about Aristides in 2011! It’s called the Consul of Bordeaux, and I’m off to the local library, to see if they have it there. Brilliant!

Meet Alison (aka alison41) from Cape Town in South Africa 🇿🇦. She’s a very enthusiastic postcrosser in her country, and a fan of books, writing, and mahjong! She has sent us quite a few interesting postal-themed articles over the years, and regularly updates us on the postal situation in her country… so we thought it was time we got to know her a little better. Here she is!

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

A local magazine “IDEAS”, featured a 2 page article with pictures, about Postcrossing — at the sight of the international stamps and Par Avion stickers, I was immediately interested! I love receiving mail. I’ve been a letter writer my entire life, and had literally dozens of penfriends over the years. I still have one or two, particularly an Australian lady, we still correspond — by now it has been nearly 50 years.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

Apart from being an avid reader, and writing articles for my two blogs (Despatches from Timbuktu and The Booksmith) my other passion is playing Mah Jong. I have been playing the game for nearly 50 years. I learned in Rhodesia, during the early 1970s, and have been playing, and teaching others how to play, ever since. I run a small club in the retirement village where live.

I found a couple of Asian themed cards to display next to my Mah Jong set.

What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?

Reading the biographies of the people to whom I’m about to send a card. As a writer, I find people and their lives intensely interesting. So I enjoy reading everyone’s profiles, because here you have insight into their personalities, likes and dislikes.

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

Blue mailboxes and the red outgoing box at the Big Bay Post Office. The view from the post office balcony cross the bay to Table Mountain is stunning!

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

I love my cat-themed postcards, and have displayed some of my current favourites in front of my work table, so can see and enjoy them daily. I am a huge cat fan!

But apart from my Cat Cards, I’m involved with Gonny in the Netherlands, and we have our own “story card” project, inspired by a post on this blog from September 2017 titled “Postcard Stories”, about a woman who published a book consisting entirely of stories written on postcards. I don’t think we’ll produce our own book, but we’re having a lot of fun!

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

Mexico! If you live in South Africa, then Mexico is a very far way foreign country; ditto Iceland and Greenland.

Have you met any other members in real life?

Regrettably not; South Africa has very few members, and it is a big country. I’d love to attend a local Postcrossing get-together… but I think for that to happen, I’ll have to organise it myself!

Is there anything that you are passionate about?

What else excites me? Going to the theatre; book sales; cats; current affairs; books and reading; my monthly writing group; attending monthly meetings of the University of Third Age – the speakers are usually professional people who come and speak about their field of expertise. I run a monthly Book Club meeting at the local library and I’m always delighted to meet other readers and chat about books.

Some time ago, our friends at the Royal Philatelic Society of London tweeted about a mail-themed playlist, and we’ve listening to it on repeat ever since, so we wanted to share it with you all.

It’s called “Putting a stamp on it”, and consists of 39 (mostly) golden oldies tunes, all featuring postcards, letters, stamps or mail carrier themes. From Carpenters’ “Please Mr. Postman” to Elvis “Return to Sender”, you’ll find a lot of familiar tunes there… but there’s also a few surprises! Overall, they’re upbeat songs that promise to fill your snail mail moments with happy vibes. We love it!

You can listen to it on the player to the right, or using this link to open it on Spotify.

Are there any songs about mail that you know, that might be missing from this list? Let everyone know in the comments!

PS – While you’re at it, check out this mixtape that postcrosser Peter (aka p22earl) created some years ago, and the Little Mail Carriers visit to the Royal Philatelic Society of London.

March at last! We’ve been anxiously waiting for this day to finally reveal how many postcards for a good cause were sent from Germany 🇩🇪 last December. Are you ready to find out? Here goes…

Hurray! Congratulations to all postcrossers for this record-breaking achievement! 2018 was the best year yet in all the years we’ve been running the Cards for Literacy campaign with Deutsche Post. We really admire the dedication of our many German members — whether you’ve sent 1 or 100 postcards throughout December, they’re all appreciated.

And of course, every postcard has a sender and a receiver, and they’re both part of each exchange — so thank you to all the recipients as well. Your prompt registration of all these postcards also contributed to this record.

And last but not least, a huge thank you to Deutsche Post, for collaborating with Postcrossing and standing by their commitment to improve literacy in Germany every year. Hurray! 🎉

All that is left to do is for Paulo to run his magic script to choose the winners of this year’s prizes. If you’re in Germany and participated in this campaign, keep an eye on your email — if you won a prize, you’ll receive a notification shortly! 😊

The writing prompts invite postcrossers to write about a different topic on their postcards’ messages every month. These are just suggestions though — if you already know what you want to write about, or the recipient gives you some pointers, that’s great too!

This month, our suggestion invites you to think about those sayings that stuck with you. Here it goes:

Where to start, right? There are so many good quotes and life mottos that spring to mind, that it’s rather difficult to pick one. And how can you explain to the recipient the significance of that quote to you?

So… I’ll try to go first. In one of his books, American writer Kurt Vonnegut introduces his uncle Alex, who would often complain that human beings rarely noticed when they were happy. So, in order to notice and appreciate those moments, now and then he would interrupt whatever he was doing and exclaim “If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is". I liked this idea so much that I adopted it as my own motto and started doing it as well, pausing briefly every so often to acknowledge my own happiness. It’s amazing how many simple moments throughout the day are sources of contentment and gratitude.

What about you? Which quotes have stuck with you, or which words do you try to live by? Share them on the postcards you send out this month!