Kind regards

On each of the three years we have relocated to the western coast for six weeks, I have taken with me a box, filled with both my grandmother's postcard collection and good intentions. On each occasion, it has come back unopened, to remind me again of my lack of self-knowledge. If ever I do get around to digging more into her history, it could be a rich source of information and supporting evidence

Postcards were the WhatsApp messages of Victorian and Edwardian era, and these have lasted longer than some of the ones sent from Downing Street. This one is dated 1913. Many of those I have looked at contain no more than a sentence. This one says "I hope you arrived safely after a pleasent [sic] ride", signed with initials. It is addressed 'care of' someone who is not my grandmother, and the address is simply "Ratby, Leicester", no house or street name, which shows how locally knowledgeable the postal service had to be. Curiously, the message is headed "Co-op". A cheeky relationship with the milkman? 

Ratby is a village now on the fringe of the city - I expect it was more remote then. Two of the points highlighted by Google maps are the Co-op and the DHL express service centre - the more things change, the more they stay the same

With that strange circularity life has, MrsM noticed that our local gallery has an exhibition of "research into Victorian photographic processes to produce new works that explore the impact of these early processes and materials upon people and the environment." That sounds like a candidate for a visit and a blip, especially as the artist is from my home town, not far from Ratby