All of this from one little postage stamp

This week I was in Seville( not really, but through my postcards). I wanted to date a card so I looked at the postage stamp, a boy king? Let me see…

Alfonso XIII of Spain was king from his birth until he was forced to leave Spain in 1931. The interesting bit was that, during the first world war, Spain was a neutral country because Alfonso had family on both sides. He caught flu in 1918 and became seriously ill. Spain was the only country that had news other than the war and that is why it became known as 'Spanish' flu.

Alfonso was married to Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenburg, Named after her Grandmother, Queen Victoria and Godmother the Empress Eugénie. Her full name was Victoria Eugenie Julia Ena. The Ena part is interesting because her mother had chosen Eua (Gaelic form of Eve) which was misread and so she was Christened Ena as her last name. She was known as ‘Ena’ by the public after that. They were both destined to marry other people, but despite everything (haemophilia being one of the problems) they married in May 1906.

The stamp? Around 1901.

The Bridges of Madison County

Back in 1995 I heard about the film being released and thought to myself ‘I must see that’. Last night I finally go to see it. It was worth the wait and I really enjoyed the bridges, the country side, the era and the relationship between the photographer and a lonely housewife. Rob enjoyed it too, though I didn’t really expect him to. He was quite thoughtful afterwards and asked me what I got up to when he went away on courses in the past. I reminded him that I had three small children to look after at the time. It reminded me that when he was away we used to put a chair in front of the front door at night. The idea being that if anyone tried to get into the house they’d knock over the chair and wake us up. We all slept better for it.

Most of my boyfriends before I met Rob were well travelled or had lived abroad, Rob had lived in Sweden and France before I met him. There must be something about travelling men….

Another postcard story

Rob is going through some of the first postcards we bought at auction 3 years ago. I remembered the family they came from because they have a Danish name – Our name is Norwegian and the Norwegian consulate was on the outskirts of the village when we first moved here, so Scandinavian connections always intrigue me.

I had an old postcard from Svendborg in Denmark of a ferry, nothing really special, so I prepared my keywords as usual and Googled them to see what the opposition is. The family name came up. How could Google possibly know who the postcard was addressed too? It turns out that the family were ship builders in Svendborg. It’s funny that I’ve taken 3 years to find it out. This is the kind of boat they were building

Soothe your troubles

Which is harder, to suffer pain or watch the ones you love suffer pain?

Yesterday I was listening to the music on my computer and I’d put all of the tracks into alphabetical order to make a change. Then this song from the Cranberries came up. I wasn’t really following the words, just listening to the voice and that wonderful Irish accent, it’s almost a hymn. So for the weekend I’m offering you balm for your troubled waters, something to soothe your pains.



Here are the lyrics anyway:

"No Need To Argue"

There's no need to argue anymore.
I gave all I could, but it left me so sore.
And the thing that makes me mad,
Is the one thing that I had,

I knew, I knew,
I'd lose you.
You'll always be special to me,
Special to me, to me.

And I remember all the things we once shared,
Watching T.V. movies on the living room armchair.
But they say it will work out fine.
Was it all a waste of time.

'Cause I knew, I knew,
I'd lose you.
You'll always be special to me,
Special to me, to me.

Will I forget in time, ah,
You said I was on your mind?
There's no need to argue,
No need to argue anymore.
There's no need to argue anymore.

Ouuu, ouuu, ouuuu...
Special.