A postcrossing post card from Claus in Hamburg.
Claus says that when QM2 is in town, people go crazy, and over a million people may watch her.
She looks beautiful, Claus.
Thanks for the postcard!
Year: 2009
On yer bike!
I took Steve and Harrison on a bike ride this morning, along the North Pine River, up to Lake Samsonvale, and then back along the North Pine River.
It was a hoot! A little bit slower than normal, because Harrison is only 9 and his bike is a bit worse for wear. But it was fun all the same.
And I got to try out a new program for my Nokia N95 mobile phone. Nokia Sports Tracker Uses the inbuilt GPS on the phone to record speed and height info. While you’re cycling, your N95 acts like a speedo, and odometer, showing you all the vital stats. But when you get home, you click the button, and upload the data to sports tracker.
The really cool thing is that if you take any photos with the phone on your journey, it will upload and geotag them.
So the map on the left here is where we went. You can drag and zoom it if you want more detail.
But the fun part is that the data is also uploaded to the Sportstracker community. Here’s a link to the data for our ride today. If you tick the “altitude” box, you can see every hill, and how fast we were going.
The thing I like most about this technology is that it adds to the fun of getting out and exercising. At times I’ve found it hard to overcome my inertia to regularly exercise. In regards to exercise, if it makes me think “Oh yeah! I want to do that again!” then I think it’s a great thing.
Oh – and you can use Sports Tracker for running, walking, skiing, rowing – whatever floats your boat.
P.S. I’ve ordered a mounting bracket to attach my phone to my handlebars. Till that arrives, I’m using some of Lilly’s hair ties 🙂
WW2 – 70 years ago today
I feel like a midget standing beside giants when I think of the people who lived through the six years of World War Two.
It started 70 years ago today.
I’ve never fought in a war. No one has ever dropped a bomb on my house. None of my immediate family has ever been killed or injured in an armed conflict. I’ve never had to contend with the idea that a foreign power wanted to invade my country. I’ve never lived through rationing. I’ve never had to go into a bomb shelter.
To all you wonderful people who endured all of this and more, thank you.
Thanks for not giving up, for hoping, for enduring.
We live in a better world today because of you.
Reading someone else’s mail from 1907
In 1907, someone who we only know as “L” visited Colwyn Bay in wales and sent a postcard of a grave to “Miss Banfield” in Herefordshire.
A couple of years later, “L” visited Colwyn Bay again, and sent another postcard to Miss Banfield. This time it was of a wooded roadway in country Wales.
A hundred years later, these postcards turned up at the markets in suburban Brisbane, and my mum, who knows I love postcards, bought them for me.
So we can now read these brief personal messages between these two people, both of whom are probably long dead.
This inspires me to keep sending postcards to the furthest reaches of the planet. Who knows, one or two of them might outlive me, and someone in a century might be wondering who “Neil” was and why he sent such wierd postcards!
By the way, if you want to read what “L wrote to Miss Banfield, just click on one of the images above. I managed to transcribe it.
Genoa International Boat Show
A Postcrossing post card from Vincenzo in Naples, Italy.
The postcard celebrates the 49th International Boat Show in Genoa in October this year.
Thanks for the postcard, Vincenzo!
History in a Wardrobe
In the back of her wardrobe, my mum found some old documents covering a period of almost a hundred years. It’s a bit like taking a visit to Narnia digging around in the back of old wardrobes. Perhaps that’s why C.S.Lewis wrote about them.
Rather than spoonfeed it all to you here, why don’t you take your own trip to Narnia and dig around by clicking on the slideshow and having a look at some of these amazing things.
There’s a picture of my Dad pretending to be a rich oil-sheik, a heart warming anniversary card from my Grandad to Grandma a couple of years before he died, a seaside postcard written by my Aunts shortly after the war, some concert programs from during the second world war, and much more.
I love this stuff. It tells me about life before I was born, before my parents were born, and gives me a sense of being part of an unfolding, fascinating history!
Hall of Great Harmony
A postcrossing post card from Xizhe in Shangai.
Xishe is on vacation at the moment, planning a trip next year to Greece.
The Hall of Great Harmony is part of the “Forbidden City” in Beijing, built in 1406 by the Hongwu Emporer, it served as the Imperial Palace of the Ming and Qing Dynasties for almost 500 years.
The city was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987.
Thanks for the postcard Xishe!
Antwerpen
A postcrossing post card from Judit in Belgium
The ship in the picture is “Carina” (you might be able to see the name КАРИНА in cyrillic on her bow).
Length: 122m, 7600GRT, 328 passengers.
She is currently known as “Rochale One” and operates as a static ship for student accommodation in Amsterdam.
She was built in Nantes, France in 1977 for the then Soviet government and named “Aywasowski”. She operated cruises out of the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.
She was renamed Carina after she was bought by German company Phoenix Reisen in 1997. She changed hands again in 2000 and was renamed “Primexpress Island”, operating out of Cyprus.
The ship was impounded in the port of Limassol (Cyprus) because of unpaid bills.
She was eventually purchased by a consortium of three Dutch housing companies acquired the vessel, towed it to Amsterdam and configured it for use as hotel accommodation for students.
Her engines are kept in working order, so she is capable of sailing as and when needed.
Thanks for the fascinating postcard, Judit!