Theme Thursday - Work

I think I blogged this postcard way back in 2009, but it seems to fit this week's Theme Thursday work quite well, so please forgive me for re-posting it. The postcard shows the dinner hour at the Huntley and Palmer's Biscuit Factory in Reading, Berkshire. I remember as a young child my father, although working in the Civil Service rather than a factory, would always come home for lunch. For most of us I suspect those days are long gone. Many of us have long commutes to work, some stay away during the week, and the thought of coming home for lunch seems quite alien now. In fact even having a lunch hour is quite a challenge, with many people grabbing a quick sandwich and returning to their desks to drop crumbs between the keys of their laptops. On the flip side of the coin though, many of us are fortunate enough to be able to work from home sometimes, so we're already at home for lunch. This postcard also has a feel of the 1960's/1970's kids' TV show  'Trumpton', or was is 'Chigley', about it, where a whistle blew at the end of the day and all the factory workers left for the day and danced.

Dinner Hour at the Huntley and Palmers Biscuit Factory, Reading, Berkshire

    

As usual 100's more vintage postcards on my web site

Vintage postcards of actresses ... and ordinary people

Whilst nowhere near as prolific as topographical postcards, vintage postcards of people crop up from time to time in my travels. Edwardian actors and actresses would seem to be the most common, and of course royalty.

It's fairly obvious to see why these cards were printed and bought, but something which intrigues me however is the vast number of vintage postcards of what I'll call "ordinary" people, either as individuals or family units.

At first I thought these were just photographs, but they are actual postcards. I've come across everything from a smartly dressed lady on a bicycle, to a serious looking family, dressed in their Sunday Best on their front lawn.

Unfortunately none of those I have are written, so there's no additional detail which may explain the cards further, but the pictures themselves do offer a fascinating glimpse into our social history.