The dangers of postcard porn

I was originally planning to write a post today about St George's Day -- or maybe referring back to the post I wrote about my associations with being English. But -- I'm not any more.

A "postcard porn for my wanderlust" post is overdue, since I have been sending and receiving cards through postcrossing and have a couple I want to upload and write about. This is now being given a new edge, however. When I get new postcards and I scan them in to post here and write about, I also post the images along with my brief comments to the appropriate Facebook group. I've never given it too much thought.

Once, someone commented that they thought it was rude of me to say that I thought a postcard I'd got was a bit disappointing. The disapproval is always for the sake of the potential sender seeing it and being upset, though, and I think the odds are stacked against this ever happening -- people often like to be offended on behalf of others. I accepted at the time that not knowing me or what I'm like would make the comment seem a lot worse than it was, and so deleted anything that would cause offence. And I thought no more about it.

I recently made friends with a Norwegian girl on Facebook, after she commented on a postcard I'd received from Finland. We should all know what I'm like about Norwegian girls, although if she had green eyes or not I never got around to asking. I didn't think too much of it, except we shared common interests -- like photography, and postcards, and she was an Aquarius.

Today, another random user commented on a German card I had posted, explaining to me what it said. I replied, thanking them for their help. Then, the Norwegian girl joined in the conversation. She felt it necessary to wade in with the comment that although she didn't want to have a go at me (or words to that effect, I've deleted the offending remark now so I can't check it) she thought that my comments on the cards I receive were often rude, and it would be unkind to the senders of these cards. She also told me that people don't know what to write on postcards and so it was that commenting about the weather wasn't just a British thing. She ended saying it was postcrossing and not penpals.

Well excuse me all to hell.

It was an honest question the times I have remarked on senders talking about the weather -- I haven't travelled a great deal and can't speak any foreign languages fluently (or much at all beyond "two beers, please") so I was unclear whether it was generally accepted that if you have to make small talk with an Englishman you should mention the weather, or if it was instead a universally-accepted subject. Perhaps some of my remarks may have seemed sarcastic -- like in this post where I remark that the Japanese sender tells me it is Autumn in Japan, which funnily enough it is in England, also.

I do say nice things about imagining this life in Japan so different from my own, but perhaps spoil it by saying I expect the sender is wearing one of those weird facemasks they're fond of in Japan when they have colds.

On browsing through the cards, in just this batch alone it doesn't end there. Here I make a risque reference to "the famous German sense of humour" and go on to mention that the people in the picture look like freaks.

There is also this card, where perhaps it's bad form to say that someone's self-described beautiful city doesn't look all that, or to say the postcard's caption gives me more detail about the city than the sender does.

I can see now how where such remarks should perhaps be confined to my blog, where the senders will never see them. They were intended to be humorous -- though I guess nobody but me ever saw them that way, even here. Although nobody else found them funny, what does that matter? I can say whatever the hell I like! If ever a sender did see one and took offence, I would apologise and explain what I meant. But I don't agree with being offended on behalf of someone else.

I hope that at least my handful of readers here know that if I sound mean or unkind you shouldn't take me seriously -- I love getting these cards in the post (otherwise I wouldn't do it), and I don't think I have ever said anything really offensive. If I say "I'm disappointed by this", then what is that other than my own feelings? Who knew there was so much politics involved. In future, all cards received will be posted here with full and unrestrained comments. But in every other public forum, there will be no comment that is anything more than factual.

And certainly no attempts at humour.