The Bookshop Murder (book review)

 

The Bookshop Murder (A Flora Steele Mystery # 1)
by Merryn Allingham

A Kindle book in the "cosy crime" genre that I downloaded for free back in 2023.

The story is set in Sussex in 1955, in a village called Abbeymead. Flora Steele owns a small bookshop (All's Well), inherited from an aunt. She also offers a delivery service - as in delivering books herself to some of her customers, using her bike.

One day, Flora gets a nasty surprise: The body of a young man is found in her shop. At first it seems he just died of a heart attack; but a mystifying factor is that he wasn't suffering from any disease to explain that. Rumours start going round in the village, and Flora starts losing customers as a consequence.

Flora decides to look for explanations herself, and takes help from a customer, Jack Carrington, who is also crime writer himself. He is somewhat of a recluse, but in their joint efforts to look into this mystery, they become friends.

When another death occurs in the village, they start looking for connections, and find some possible clues to suggest motives involving village history and legends, and an old estate nowadays known as the Priory Hotel.

One advantage (for the author) of setting a mystery in the 1950s is that you then can make use of certain kinds of evidence that would not fit at all in a story set in the 21st century. There's a kind of classic Agatha Christie atmosphere to it all.

I found myself getting more easily caught up in this book than I expected. I might try another one in the series some time (it seems there are 11 so far). And she has also written other books. You can find the author's webpage here. 

I still have lots of other unread books on my Kindle, though...

Home, Sweet Home

 

It's been another grey and wet week. I don't think the sun has shown its face at all here during the second half of January. This week, on Monday there was wet snow blowing sideways outside my windows, so I did not go out at all. Since then I've been out for short afternoon walks three days in a row, but the only thing to tempt my (phone)camera was this birdfeeder in the cemetery (on Tuesday)... I'm pretty sure it must be new, or surely I'd have noticed it before! Even the birds did not seem to have discovered it yet - unless perhaps they'd already had their lunch, and left.

 

Another Walk Down Memory Lane

"Saknar dig" = Miss you

Today, my thoughts go to a friend of mine who died two years ago - 28 January, 2023 - two weeks before her 70th birthday.

Her name was Gunilla, and she and I first met in the autumn of 1975, when we were both in our early twenties. I had just moved to Karlstad to attend secretarial college. I don't remember now if G was still studying as well, or already working as a preschool teacher. Anyway, we met through a mutual friend, a church situated only a few minutes walk from where I lived the first year, and a youth gospel choir in that church. I've never been a great singer; but that choir was really more about fellowship than perfection; and it was a great way to quickly make new friends in a new town. Some of them I'm still in touch with (more or less) 50 years later.  

I ended up living in Karlstad for 10½ years; and G remained one of my best friends throughout those years and beyond. 

In 2011 I summed her up like this in a blog post, in connection with a visit from her and her husband:  "Her whole life she has been under the pressure of a complicated set of health issues --- But she’s one of the most inspiring and positive people I know; always making the best out of every situation. She’s definitely a friend who has made a lasting and colourful imprint on my life."  

G + husband in 2011

Even from birth, G's body did not produce its own cortisol. She had serious allergies and asthma, and as a side effect of medication, she stopped growing when was around 8-9 years old or so. Later in life she also got problems with osteoporosis, and got increasingly dependent on her wheelchair.

When I got to know her in the mid 1970s, though, she lived on her own in a flat on the 1st floor (not ground floor), drove her own car (automatic transmission), and worked as a pre-school teacher, and later director.

In 1986 I moved to Borås. Not very long after that, G got married. We still kept in touch frequently, writing long letters to each other. We also visited each other now and then. Gradually, times came for both of us when for various health reasons we met less frequently, and even long letters eventually became a thing of the past. But we continued to stay in touch. 

The last years of her life, besides her husband she also depended on a daytime personal assistant (whom I never met). 

The last time we met was in the summer of 2022 - about six months before she died. That summer my brother (also living in Karlstad) drove down here and brought me back up there to stay with him for a week or so. One day I set aside for meeting with G + husband. It was a beautiful sunny day and we were able to have lunch at a restaurant close to where they lived, and sit outside. I also went back home with them for a while afterwards.

I kind of sensed then that it might be the last time we met (in this earthly life, anyway). The last time I spoke to her on the phone was some time around Christmas that year. And at the end of January, I got a message from her husband that she had passed away (in hospital). 

I'm thankful to have our sunny last meeting to look back on.

I have no photo of the two of us together from the early years, but below is one from 1995 (celebrating my 40th birthday), combined with one from that last meeting in 2022.

Remembering CJ

Yesterday,  jabblog had a post entitled Remembrance - a topic which happens to coincide with two remembrance days of my own this time of year. 

Last year, when I learned that my blogging and postcard-loving friend CJ in England (also known as John, or in blogging context as Scriptor Senex) had passed away, I wrote a memorial post based on postcards he sent me during our first year of postcard correspondence (2012). Those cards were only the first of many more to follow. I collected all of them all in chronolgical order in photo pockets in binders along the way, and also scanned them. So why not share a few more now that another year has passed... The ones below are from 2013, and represent some things we both liked. 

 

Books / Reading

Historical buildings, architecture, art...

(No 10 Downing Street, London)

Fairy tales and fantasy 

Postcrossing and Snail Mail...

Beautiful butterflies

 

 
Cute children's books illustrations

"(23rd October) I'm rather hoping that our larder does not look like this when we get back from holiday. We are now in a hotel near Hay-on-Wye, the bookshop capital of England/Wales. ---"

Liverpool Cathedral

... Oddities in unexpected places ...

"(6 November) If you ever visit Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral, you must look for the church mouse! It's on a memorial to the Earl of Derby, but even knowing it is there, it's very hard to spot. - Needless to say I chose this card because of our current visitors. It looks as though we have stemmed the tide and someone has given us a tip about keeping them out --- we'll see if it works."

Places he liked to visit, and revisit, like... 

Devon, where a daughter lived

"(May 2013) In a couple of weeks Jo and I will be going down to Helen and Ian's in Devon to cat-sit for a few days so they can have a little holiday..."

 

The isle of Lewis, where his brother GB (of the blog Eagleton Notes) lives...

... and closer to home, Wales...

"(Dec 2013) This Welsh cottage picture just abut sums up the sort of place I would love to live - not that it would be realistic..."

Jane Austen, Letter from December 24, 1798

"(18 Dec 2013) ... I'm excited at having just bought a box of Jane Austen quotations postcards..." 

* * *

PS. I've (alas!) never been to the Hebrides; but way back in my teens, on family holidays, I both visited London and travelled by car through England, Wales and mainland Scotland. So I have fond memories of my own of various British landscapes and famous places - besides all I've learned from books and TV and blogs (and postcards!) over the decades since then. 

Venting

 
Zoomed in from one of my windows this morning around 10 am (with my Sony camera, not the phone). What the birds may have found to eat in the snow and slush, I don't know. 

An old orchid plant in my bedroom has decided to sprout a bloom or two as a bit of an antidote to winter depression.

It's been a day of various weather warnings again. Wet snow has kept falling from the sky all day, and ending up as a messy, grey, icy slush on the ground. I've not set foot outside. 

The whole week has been one of those winter weeks when it's kind of hard to tell one day from another. Yesterday I had to set an alarm to get up at 7, though, as an inspection of our ventilation system was going to be carried out "between 7:30 and 14:00". (7 may not sound early to some of my readers, but to me it is nowadays - at least in winter. Even the sun still does not rise until 8:30 - even on the days when it bothers to show its face at all.) 

I can usually count on "rounds" not to start with me though, as I live in the middle of a building with three entrances... So getting up at 7 I had time enough to both get dressed and have breakfast and make my bed etc before they rang on my door.

It turned out an air intake filter in my study needs changing. The guy said I'm getting no air at all in here now. I think the fact that I've not noticed kind of disproves that, though... ;) (The thing is, I hardly ever have any reason to close the door to this room; and there is a functioning air intake in the living room, just across the threshold.) But the very nice young man carrying a big test instrument from room to room said that he'll put it on his report to the landlord's office, and if I don't hear from them within a month, I should call and remind them. (It's they who are supposed to fix it, not me.)

That I had been up early resulted in me falling asleep for a while in the afternoon instead - which I don't think has anything to do with the air supply not quite being up to scratch, but just proves that there's not much point for me in forcing myself to rise early if there's no special reason...  (So back to my usual morning habits today.)

Lost in a Labyrinth

Somehow I feel I've been unusually slow this January with getting "restarted" on some of the usual tasks to do with entering a New Year.

One thing I've probably been doing all my adult life in January is to set up a new ring binder for bills and bank statements and such. No - I don't save them forever, or I'd be drowning in them by now... I have a few, and each January I empty the oldest one to reuse. (The only bills I save longer are some to do with major purchases like furniture or computers etc - and especially if they came with guarantee/insurance.) 

Anyway... What hit me when I finally got round to this "starting over" job for 2025, was that in spite of all the computer technology, keeping track of bills and subscriptions and other payments these days just seems to be getting more and more complicated. 

Ever since I first moved away from home back in my youth and got bills of my own to pay in the first place, I've had a simple system that used to work fine for me. Back when all bills came by post, I just opened them as they came, and then put them in a special paperclip for bills on my noticeboard. Towards the end of the month, I took that down, went through the bills and paid them. (In the previous century, by filling in a special form by hand to mail to the bank. Later on, by logging into my internet bank.)

"Kom ihåg" = Remember

This week, when trying to get reorganised for 2025, it hit me that I feel I'm losing control.

This month, the only bill that I got sent to me by post so far (a small annual fee), is telling me that if I don't change my method of payment, next year they will charge me extra for sending me a paper bill. I'm not surprised, since over the past few years, this has become the norm rather than the exception.

When I sat down and pondered the situation, this is what I arrived at:

Certain important bills are paid automatically from my bank account (like my monthly rent, and electricity), and have been for many years.

Some bills get sent directly to my internet bank account, but do not get paid automatically. I need to remember to log in and approve them individually. 

With some email bills I get all the details in the email; but with others I have to log into the respective company's website for the full details. 

An increasing number of companies are now offering auto-payment via bank card. It's usually not made clear from the bill if I have approved auto-payment or not for a certain subscription. (Usually it just says "IF you have signed up for auto-payment" etc...)

All in all it is becoming increasingly difficult to remember which bills I have approved for some kind of auto payment, and which I still have to remember to log in and pay manually.

So far I don't think I've actually missed any payments; but it has become quite a mess to keep track of everything. Not all easy to rationalise it either, as different companies offer different payment options.

I've got started on making a new updated list of what payment method I'm using where, though...

Do friends in other countries recognise this, I wonder?
Or has Swedish bureaucracy become particularly messy in this respect??

An Elevated Position (Weekend Street/Reflections)

 

It's been a grey and rainy and foggy week here, and I haven't been out much. Most of the snow was gone already on Tuesday, but there were chilly winds blowing, and I basically just stayed in until Thursday. Which was still grey and foggy; but it wasn't raining, and not much wind; so I managed to fit in a walk into town for a couple of errands. 

In the main square, I found several people standing still and gazing upwards... When I looked up myself, I ended up standing still and staring for a while as well, as two guys were sent up in the air by a rescue services crane truck, to the roof of the courthouse. Once up there, they remained in their "basket" and just seemed to stand and stare for a while too, before being brought back down again. So I still haven't got a clue what it was all about. An inspection of some kind, perhaps - or even just an exercise? ... (I haven't seen any headlines about it in the local newspaper afterwards, so not likely to have been anything very serious.) 

That's one job (among a thousand others) that I would never have been able to do, though - I almost feel dizzy just watching from the ground! (I've never been good with heights...)

Linking to Weekend Street/Reflections#208

Read & Listened to in 2024

 

Since way back, I've been keeping a (Works) database list of books that I read, or listened to. Looking back on 2024, most of the titles I've listed were audio books - but with some, I  had both the Kindle and the Audible version and shifted between them. All in all I have some 60+ titles listed for 2024. Most of those new to me were probably reviewed or at least mentioned on my blog along the way, but some re-reads may not have been.

In January and into February, I listened to a series of 8 novels by Josephine Tey, read by Karen Cass. Six of them featuring Inspector Grant. I read some of her books way back in my youth and enjoyed getting reaquainted with them now.

In February-March, I listened to a collection of six of Lucy Maud Montgomery's novels about Anne of Green Gables, read by Beth Kesler. The first one I've kept returning to ever since my teens (in Swedish translation), and I had read a few more in the past as well, but not all of them. - I also read Mary Norton's Bedknobs and Broomsticks on Kindle (children's books).

In March, I reread/listened to three books in Elly Griffiths' detecetive series about Ruth Galloway (forensic archaeologist), and also got started on (re)listening to JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, which I continued with into April.

I continued to reread (as audio books) the Ruth Galloway series (15 books) through spring and summer. I have followed that series book by book as they were published (15 books), some on Kindle, some as audio. I now used my monthly Audible credits to collect as audio books those that I did not already had in that format. I like the characters and they are books I can happily read/listen to more than once.

In between those, I also listened to...
P.G. Wodehouse's first book in his Blandings Castle series (Something New) (Audible),
Patti Callahan's Becoming Mrs Lewis (about C.S. Lewis and his friendship and then marriage to Joy Davidman) (Kindle), The Canal Murders by J.R. Ellis (A+K) (another British crime series I'm following), An Assasination on the Agenda by T.E. Kinsey (Lady Hardcastle series), and Middlemarch by George Eliot, read by Juliet Stevenson (a favourite English classic of mine).

In August, I read/reread (listened to) two books in another series by Elly Griffiths  - Bleeding Heart Yard and The Last Word. After that, I read three Swedish books by a Swedish author (Carin Hjulström) as audio + e-books, borrowed via the library.

In September, a branch library re-opened in my part of town, and I borrowed a few printed books from there. But I find it hard to read printed books now. I was diagnosed with some macular degeneration on one eye last winter - I don't really feel that it has got any worse since then, but "it is what it is", and reading small print is more of a strain for my eyes now than it used to be. Short texts are okay, but with novels I much prefer to listen now - or at least read as e-books, where I can adjust the font and size to suit me. Alas the Swedish libraries and publishers don't use the Kindle system, though, and that's one reason why I read a lot more English books than Swedish these days (ever since my first Kindle which I think I bought back in 2010).

In October I listened to Jacqueline Winspear's 18th book in her series about private detective Maise Dobbs (The Comfort of Ghosts). That inspired me to start over with that series as well, and collect as audio books (read by Orlagh Cassidy) those that I don't already have in that format. (I have followed that series through the years through a mix of printed books, Kindle and Audible; some borrowed and some bought. The ealy books are set in the years between the two world wars, and then go on through WWII and beyond. Some of them I've liked better than others.

In October, I also listened to Peter May's sequel to his Isle of Lewis trilogy, The Black Loch - read by Peter Forbes (who has recorded all of May's novels).

In November, I had a spell of listening to some Great Courses collections of lectures, which I then discovered were free for me to listen to via my Audible membership. (No longer on the "free" list since New Year, though.) Those I listened to in full (except that I no doubt dozed off here and there!) were The Old Testament; King Arthur: History and Legend; The Life and Writings of C.S. Lewis; and (parts of) Great Mythologies of the World.

In December, I continued with a couple of more in the Maise Dobbs series. I also listened to Dickens' A Christmas Carol. And then around Christmas got restarted for the umpteenth time on J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series read by Stephen Fry... (Good night time reading because I know them so well - and still enjoyable because Fry's narration is so good.)

* * *

Anything in particular that you read in 2024 that you'd like to recommend?

Radio

 

Above: A drawing my mum made of me and the radio in our living room, c. 1957.

Swedish Radio (Sveriges Radio)  is celebrating 100 years this year. Their very first radio program broadcasted in Sweden was a church service from a church in Stockholm (St Jacob) at 11 am on 1st January, 1925, and it could be received by about 44.000 radio receivers. (100 years later, services from different churches around the country are still broadcasted at 11 o'clock every Sunday.)

In the first year, SR only broadcasted in the evenings. In 1926, they added a half hour in the middle of the day. In 1933, you could listen to the radio for about 8 hours per day. 

In 1937, they reached 1 million radio licences issued. (Sweden had around 6 300 000 inhabitants at the time.)

In 1938, for the first time, a woman read the news on the radio. (Until then, they were always read by men.) The SR telephone exchange broke down because of all the upset people calling to complain...

In 1955 (the year I was born), a second national radio channel was added. 

In 1956, SR also started broadcasting television. My parents did not get aTV of their own until probably 1960, though (when we moved from the flat where I lived the first five years of my life, to a house of our own). The first time I ever saw a TV was probably at my maternal grandfather's house, in 1957 (when I was two years old). Evidence found in my first photo album:

Under this photo, from the autumn of 1957, my mum has written: Child in the age of television - or "Look, it's snowing..." (referring to the fact that most of the time, there was nothing to be seen, just a blur on the screen)...

In 1962, a third radio channel was introduced. In 1966, the three channels each got their own profile, which they have basically kept to this day. P1 for news and other talking programs. P2 for educational programs and classical music. P3 for popular music. (In 1987, P4 was added as a separate channel for local radio.)

In December 1969, a second TV channel was added. 

In 1970, regular colour broadcasts were introduced. I think my maternal grandfather was (again) among the first to get one. My own first experience of watching colour TV was in his house, and it was an ice hockey match. I think it must have been from the world cup in 1970. I remember the hockey players skating so fast that they kind of left the colour of their clothes behind on the screen! (The quality was not yet very good...)

In 1978, Radio and TV were separated into two different companies (SR and SVT - Swedish Radio, and Swedish Television). 

The first TV channel financed by advertising here (TV4) was introduced in 1990. And in 1992 they were allowed to broadcast via the terrestial network rather than satellite/cable.

In 2005, internet radio broadcasting and podcasting were introduced.

 ...

My four grandparents were all born between 1900-1904. The oldest of them was my paternal grandmother, born in February 1900. She grew up on a farm, where she lived until she got married to my grandfather in 1930. I doubt they ever got a radio on the farm; and in spite of my grandfather being a (local) journalist when they got married, I think it probably took a while before they got a radio of their own in their new house too.

I have known about that; but somehow it never really "hit" me until I started thinking about it all now, that there were no public radio broadcasts yet during WWI. Back then, people depended on the newspapers for news - and not everyone had access to those either.

The world has certainly changed a lot in the last 100 years.

I still listen quite a lot to radio, and especially our P1 channel - the one keeping us up to date with world wide news every hour, and other "talking" programs in between.

...

(Main source for the facts and dates in this post: Wikipedia)

St Knut's Day

As mentioned in my Saturday post, January 13th is the traditional day to throw out Christmas here in Sweden. Because of a question from someone in the comments to that post (why we do it a week later here than in some other countries) I ended up doing some additional research - and found out that the answer goes back as far as to 1680, when the celebration of an old saint by name Knut (Canute in English) was given a day of his own, instead of sharing with the Feast of Epiphany/Three Kings' Day. So the Feast of Saint Knut was moved forward one week here, from the 6th to the 13th. And for some reason, in Sweden (and Finland) the traditions connected with throwing out Christmas must have been more associated with St Knut, than with the Magi arriving at Bethlehem.

There is an old rhyme in Swedish that says "Tjugondag* Knut ska julen [dansas] ut." In English that might be translated "On the Feast of St Knut, Christmas is thrown out [with dancing].")  *Tjugondag = 20th day /of Christmas/.  

How far back in time that saying goes, I don't know. Perhaps even to before 1680, when the feast was still on the 13th day of Christmas? (The rhyme would function just as well with that date, in Swedish.)

Be that as it may... I kept to the tradition this year, and got the last of my Christmas things packed up and  taken down to the storage room today. And my usual all-year-round window lamps are now back on the window sills, instead of the electric candles. 

As always, I found myself missing the electric candles + window star in the kitchen window the most... So I ended up placing my two red battery candles there - for a transition period... 

Outdoors we're back to very grey weather, and now slowly thawing again. I took out a wastebag to the dustbins at the corner of the building, but decided that it was definitely a day better spent indoors than trying to "enjoy" a walk... I'm hoping the old snow and ice will melt away over the next couple of days, before it turns colder again (as sooner or later it no doubt will). 

I did not have a St Knut's Feast as such - but I did finish the last of the ginger biscuits. (I did not bake any myself this Christmas, but I bought some. Sugarfree, not to stir up too much of a craving!)

Sunny but Cold

This weekend we were blessed with a welcome glimpse of sun and blue skies; but streets and walkways are still covered with frozen slush with some loose snow on top. So still every reason to tread carefully when out walking - even when wearing boots with studs on the soles.

I managed my usual weekly walk to the nearest Recycling station, though. (Bag in one hand and one of my walking poles in the other.)

And then back another way than I came - just for some different views. Zooming in on some old houses across the main road. The house on the top of the hill was once upon a time the mansion of some important citizen, but just now I can't recall if a wealthy manufacturer, or some high-ranking military man in charge of the nearby regiment. (Now I think the house is owned by some business or other.)

The snow/ice situation was about the same in the whole area, plus icy winds making it feel several degrees colder than the thermometer said. So I did not extend my walk very far.

Today the wind had died down, and I went over to the cemetery for my usual round there. Didn't stop for photos until I was nearly back home again, though. (Fingers still get so cold when one takes off the gloves...) The two below is fromt the playground in the middle of the housing estate where I live.

(No - there were no children out playing on this Sunday around 3:30 pm.)

 

Packing Up Christmas

 

On Wednesday, between turns to the laundry room in the basement, I also got some of my boxes for Christmas ornaments from my storage room up to the flat, and got started on gradually packing up Christmas. The first thing I did was to fit this little wooden tree and its tiny ornaments back in the right compartments - which is in itself like laying a puzzle...  

Next to be packed up were all the various Santas/gnomes spread out all over the flat. All too often I forget one or two, so I left that box open for a couple of days before I finally shut the lid on it today. The ones dancing on my bathroom wall were the last to jump in this time...

(They used to belong to my mum, who used to have them in her kitchen.)

Yesterday I said goodnight to all the angels and tucked those in; and today I've packed up the Nativity scene on the shelf in my study. (Cf post from 14 December.) The normal residents on that shelf have now reclaimed their usual places. (Only leightweight objects can be put on that shelf as it's not all that securely fastened to the wall...)

The watercolour underneath was painted by me 30 years ago. I seem to recall that I copied it "freehand" (not sketching first but just painting) from a photo in a magazine - maybe an advertisment. The 1990s was a period of my life when I also participated in various water colour classes now and then. (A major reason I've not kept it up is a later injury causing longlasting shoulder/arm  problems. I turned to photography instead, which became so much easier with digital cameras and computers - and blogging...)

My other little Christmas tree, electric candleholders and window stars still remain to be taken down over the next few days. Some textiles that I see more as "winter" than just Christmas will probably stay up for a while longer, though. (Like my red/white kitchen curtains, and some table runners.) 

The "traditional" date in Sweden to "throw out" Christmas is 13th January. Nowadays it varies a lot more. Back in my childhood, when most mothers were stay-at-home moms (housewives), it was common to have special children's parties on or around that date, before throwing out the Christmas tree. The Swedish word for it is julgransplundring, which literally means "plundering the Christmas tree". Originally, I think the tradition stems from a time when the Christmas trees were primarily decorated with edible things (cookies, apples, nuts etc). Not so common any more in the 1960s; but the party might still involve eating the gingerbread house, or the last of other cookies baked for the holidays. Games were played, and if there was room enough, one might dance around the tree. And it was also still part of the tradition that each child got a goodie bag to take home with them at the end of the party. 

Below is a photo of my very first such party. I'm the one to the right, with two bows in my hair. The year is 1960, I'm 5 years old and the photo is from the kitchen table in the house I had moved into some six months earlier with my parents. The three other girls lived in neighbouring houses, one next door and the two others across the street. Two of them a year older than me I think, and one a year younger. And it looks like my mum even baked a cake for the occasion.

These Boots Are Made For Walking

 

It's been a week of weather warnings here. Temperatures up and down around 0'C (freezing point). Strong winds and precipitation varying between snow and rain (and sometimes both at the same time). Streets and walkways covered with a treacherous mix of snow, slush and ice. Cancelled trains and various traffic problems and accidents.

Monday through Wednesday I just stayed in (and was thankful to be able to do so - thinking of all working people who don't have that option). Wednesday was laundry day for me anyway, but while my last load was in the drying cabinet (3-4 pm) I had hoped to perhaps manage a short walk to the nearest postbox (someone's birthday coming up...) I actually gave it a try and dressed to go out - but changed my mind almost immediately after turning round the corner of my building... The winds were more capricious than it had seemed from indoors, and the streets also too icy/slushy.

On Thursday I had a delivery of groceries coming around noon. Three weeks since my last delivery, so quite a lot to unpack and store. I'm still thankful every time for the possibility to order online and just have things delivered, though. (Ten years since this service was introduced here by "my" supermarket; and I've been a regular customer ever since.)

In the afternoon, I did manage that walk to the postbox, though. Still not a very enjoyable one (streets still icy and slushy), but the wind had subsided, the streets were more wet than slippery, and it was neither raining nor slowing.

During the night to today it snowed again. I ventured out for a short walk in the cemetery before noon. I do walk a lot slower in snow, so turned round by the chapel in the middle of the grounds. Still took me about the same time as a full lap round the whole enclosure does in normal weather.

"These boots are made for walking..." ♫

(Winter footwear has been discussed on more than one blog lately...)

80 Million Postcards

Copying this from Postcrossing.com today. (The link will take you to their main page, but I'm not sure you can access their Blog if you're not a member and logged in.)

We’re celebrating this milestone almost exactly 2 years after the last big milestone (70 million), so it looks like our trajectory is still very stable, with an average of 5 million postcards per year.

Calculating the area of all these postcards, we know that they would be enough to carpet the Vatican with postcards two times and a half, or the area of the Forbidden City in Beijing over 1.5 times! Also, assuming each postcard weighs about 5 grams (0.17 ounces), all these postcards would weigh as much as 67 fully grown African elephants!  

📯 📮💌

I've been a member of Postcrossing since May 2013. The main reason for me to join was that I inherited a lot of stamps still usable for the purpose back then. My dad was a stamp collector all his life. In his old age he lost control of the actual "collecting", but still kept subscribing to all new issues. Going through the mountains of paperwork in his study after he died, I kept finding stamp booklets here, there and everywhere...

I decided to use most of those for the purpose for which they were made, and that's how I came to join Postcrossing. (Which I had been introduced to via another blogger - Graham's brother John, for those of you who knew him!) And after I ran out of "free" stamps I have continued anyway; but because of postage rising to ridiculous heights in later years, I have gradually cut back a lot on my participation compared to earlier. (16 cards sent, and 16 received, in 2024.) I still love the basic idea of this international project, though, so I'm happy to still draw attention to it on my blog every now and then. 

My last previous post about it was on World Postcard Day, 1 October 2024. Since then, I have received these below - from California, New Zealand, Germany, Austria, Germany.

Snow

 It has kept on snowing "on and off" here over the weekend. Today the snow is definitely ON, combined with strong wind, and I'm not likely to feel tempted to go out in it at all.

Saturday was quite a pleasant day for a walk, though. It started out very cold, but in the afternoon I ventured out for a while (all in all about a full hour). First my usual weekend walk to dispose of some recycling stuff. From there on to the small local greengrocer's shop for some fruit and vegs. Then back home to just leave my bag inside the door, before I went back out again "unburdened" (and with both my walking poles) for about a half hour slow walk around the old cemetery - which always gets magically transformed by snow...

Animal footprints from hare and bird

 

I kept to the main paths that had been ploughed.

 

 

Above: Turning round and looking back towards the sinking sun behind me (2:38 pm)

The grave in the middle above is the final resting place of great grandparents of mine.

We have reached the far end of the cemtery and are looking back towards the sunset again.

The cemetery chapel in the background.

Someone else's family grave in the foreground - with several snow covered flat headstones, candle lanterns and wreaths.

I love how the snow outlines the branches of big old trees... This one is a horse chestnut tree - I know from walking here all year round...

Yesterday, in spite of it being Sunday, the sun did not show its face at all. I did go out for a short walk then too, but only for about twenty minutes. I went over to the cementery then too, as walking on the paths there is both more pleasant and safer than just walking along the streets). But I did not walk around the whole place, and only snapped two photos:

A street along one side of the cemetery.

A tree (or possibly two?) that got an especially interesting and "weird" look from being outlined by snow.

Today, I woke up to a full snow storm outside my windows. It might turn to rain and slush later on, but so far (around noon) it is still snowing, and the outdoors temperature still keeping just below freezing point. 

 

Linking to Mersad's Through My Lens #465