Sepia Saturday 154 - bridges

It seems that time is not my own again this week so I was pleased to have an easy theme for this week's Sepia Saturday. However I didn't realise quite how many vintage postcards of bridges I had until I looked though, so I had a challenge of a different sort this week in which ones to choose. Hopefully there's something for everyone in the ones I ended up with ...

Long Bridge, Barnstaple, Devon

 Chelmsford, Public Park, Rustic Bridge, c.1905

Clifton Suspension Bridge, c.1905

Glen Esk, Gannochy Bridge, c.1903

Rochester Bridge

Stafford, the Essex Bridge, c.1905

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

   

Postcard Friendship Friday 143 - Garden of Sleep, Cromer

It's been several months since I posted for Postcard Friendship Friday as I used to work from home on a Friday but now seem to be in London most weeks instead. However, as I've had this week off on annual leave, I have managed to find a few minutes to participate. Living in the UK, I don't have anything relating to Thanksgiving to share (other than my best wishes for all you folks stateside) but I have picked up several interesting vintage postcards recently, of which this is just one. I guess the Garden of Sleep is quite a sombre theme, but at the same time the postcard feels slightly uplifting and offering peace.

The writing on the reverse of the postcard is very feint, but I can just about make out that it was sent to France, and that the sender spent today in the Garden of Sleep listening to the sea.

Garden of Sleep, Cromer, Norfolk, published by Valentine, c.1909.

100's more vintage postcards on my web site

Sepia Saturday 153 - children in oriental costume

Firstly, a big thank you to everyone who has been following this blog. Today I reached 100 followers. My vintage magazines blog and In Search of Space blog are less well read, so if you have time maybe cast your eye their way to see if there's anything of interest.

I am a bit early posting this week as I have a couple of days of work as our leave year comes to an end next week. Today has been spent catching up on a few maintenance activities on my web site, which were long overdue and hopefully my site is better for having carried them out. In particular I have played around with the image sizes and code on a couple of my postcard pages, and now they seem to load much quicker than before, so fingers-crossed people will not get bored waiting for the images to load. Bear with me though please as I've only updated a handful of the more regularly visited pages for now to see what the impact is. I have also added a batch of vintage railway magazines which I've had sitting around on my desk for a few months. Again this is work in progress, with about the same number still to add. Tomorrow will see us forming our annual, advanced party on the Christmas shopping front in Winchester, so no time for PC work then, hence my early posting this week. Phew!

So, on to this week's Sepia Saturday and staying reasonably on theme. I have always been intrigued by postcards of people or groups of people which have no text or annotation to say who they are or what they are doing. I can only assume they were produced for a very small audience who knew exactly what they were. One such vintage postcard I picked up a week or two back is the one I've included below. I assume this is some sort of school play, or perhaps some childhood amateur dramatic society, but really I have no idea as there's no clue on the postcard, and no date either. I know there are some super-sleuths out there, so maybe someone has an idea?

Vintage postcard of children in oriental costumes

As usual 100's of vintage postcards can be found on my (hopefully speeded-up) website

Sepia Saturday 152 - Reading Room, S.S.Adriatic

Curious picture on this week's Sepia Saturday. I was immediately drawn to the theme of libraries, but then realised I had done a library blog post earlier this year, so instead I delved deep and found a library related, vintage postcard. It's not a library as such, but it is the Reading and Writing Room on board the S.S.Adriatic. Clearly though, this was a place to bring your own books.

S.S.Adriatic, Reading and Writing Room

As usual 100's of vintage postcards and vintage magazines on my web site

    

Sepia Saturday 150 - Dublin

From the picture posted in this week's Sepia Saturday I have picked out Dublin as the theme and have included a few vintage postcards. As with most major cities I would imagine the streets shown now bear very little resemblance to those shown in the postcards, and I suspect the trams have been replaced long ago with cars, cars and more cars.

 O'Connell Street, Dublin

Sackville Street, Dublin

St. Stephen's Green Park, Dublin

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

    

Sepia Saturday 149 - Spa

Another late Sepia Saturday posting from me again this week, but I have a good excuse in that I was out making the most of the autumn leaves. I was really struggling with the theme until I spotted Kat's mention of the word "spa" which rescued me from going off theme. So, without further ado, here are a few vintage postcards of various spa towns in the UK.

Spa from the pier, Bridlington, Yorkshire

Royal Pump Rooms, Lower Parade, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire

Scarborough Spa, Promenade and Bay, Yorkshire

The Spa, Scarborough, Yorkshire

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

    

Sepia Saturday 146 - R.M.S. Queen Mary

I was all prepared to be nice and early again for this week's Sepia Saturday but once again time ran away from me. I have however managed to stay on theme, and my image this week also includes a ship, the R.M.S.Queen Mary to be precise. The picture is one of five on a multiview, vintage postcard of Southsea, Hampshire.

Vintage postcard of Southsea, showing the R.M.S.Queen Mary

I did consider just showing this one postcard, but thought I'd also include the following two for good measure.

Cunard R.M.S. Carinthia, by the artist C.E.Turner, c.1965

R.M.S. Narkunda, by the artist John H Fry, c.1936

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