Welcome to my blog, where I take pleasure in words and pictures, be they my own or those of others. I'm a creative individual, and the crafty side I explore on my 'other blog', Picking Up The Threads, which I hope you'll visit too. I'm sure you understand that I have sole copyright of my original work and any of my contributions, so please ask if you want to use them. A polite request is rarely refused. So, as they used to say on the BBC's 'Listen With Mother' radio programme, many years ago: "Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin."

Sunday 16 March 2014

Please Mr. Postman

Please Mr.Postman look and see
If there’s a letter in your bag for me.


The words of the song Please, Mr Postman, from a 1961 song recorded by the Marvelettes, seem to fit the picture on the postage stamp above. You may know the song from later cover versions by The Beatles and The Carpenters, among others, and by now you’re probably singing along. The singer hopes to get a letter from her boyfriend, who is away at war, and pleads for the postman to check his bag one more time, and “deliver the letter, the sooner the better.” It seems the lady on the stamp struck lucky, and as the postman is smiling we can assume it’s not bad news.

I’m amazed at how light the postman’s bag appears to be. When I was a student in the 1970s I worked on the Christmas Post and the bag slung across my shoulders was huge and heavy; I couldn’t wait to get back to the warmth and safety of the sorting office (away from the dogs and the slippery paths).

The letter was sent to my parents by a friend on 23rd September 1989 from Lugano in Switzerland. The reverse shows an idyllic scene and the friend reported that the weather was hot.


Sunday Stamps over at Viridian’s Postcard Blog is celebrating letters, letter-writing and the post; once again I’m amazed that from my meagre clutch of stamped postcards I’ve managed to find one to fit the theme.

13 comments:

  1. Now I am hearing the Beatles version in my head. Great stamp for today. thank you for joining in.

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  2. Yes, yes, I'm singing along... after a pause while I wondered why my inner voice didn't sound like the Marvelettes. It was The Beatles, of course.

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  3. My inner voice sounded just like the Marvelettes ;) Thanks for the memories on this rainy Sunday.

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  4. A lovely design, and the stamp goes well with the song :)

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  5. Even if you found just a stamp, it's worth sharing!

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  6. Thanks for the ear worm, Nell!

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  7. They couldn't be much post in Switzerland if his bag was as small as that. The bag our postman hauls about is a big as him. He looks scruffy beside the smart Swiss man. Fine stamp.

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  8. Such a beautiful, fine stamp! I've never seen this one before, and it's one of my favourites!
    It makes me wonder what would be written in the letter inside?!

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  9. John's blog has a mammoth stamp on it. Very intriguing. That postcard is wonderful but has a distinct air of not being quite real. That does not make it less charming, though! :)

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  10. I love the box the postman has - it also serves as a shelf and may even hold his lunch amongst the little bits of mail!

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  11. Super stamp and perfect for the theme - I remember having quite a few Swiss ones in my collection. You know it's been ages since we got a postcard in the post, such a shame. Great colours in this one, certainly a 'wish you were here' view! Mum had an album full of fab old postcards she'd collected, must ask her if she still has it.
    Thanks so much for your lovely, supportive words the other day xxx

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  12. Oh I too recall those heavy bags full of Christmas post and the sleet driving into your face as you plodded the streets looking for houses that should have been there but had mysteriously vanished. I wonder if the youth of today anticipate the ping of the iPhones "message arrival" tone in the same way we would anticipate the delivery of a letter (preferably carried by someone else)

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  13. That's a nice stamp. I like the limited colors--they make the stamp look older.

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