Postcards from Aunty Cranky.: Cornwall

Thursday, July 19, 2012

England - Penzance, Cornwall - 18.6.1957

Mousehole, nr Penzance, Cornwall. England - 18.6.1957

Dear Pennie,

We are surrounded by fishing boats and seagulls and of course , sea. We are having scones and honey and Cornish Cream for afternoon tea.

Lots of love, Nan

Mousehole, near Penzance, Cornwall. England - 18.6.1957

Dear Timmy,

We are sitting in the 'Lobster Pot', just about to have afternoon tea, so haven't got time to write more.

Lots of love G.A.N.

Mousehole, near Penzance, Cornwall. England - 18-6-1957

Dear Merry,

Haven't got time to tell you any news, except that it is low tide here and all the seagulls are making a terrible noise as they dig for their tea in the sand.

Lots of love, Nan

Below: Mousehole from Google Maps today.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

England - Falmouth, Cornwall - 15.6.1957

Gyllyngdene Hotel, Falmouth, Cornwall. England - 15.6.1957

Dear Pennie,

This is a beautiful place. I can see the English Channel from my window. We went to St Ives yesterday and I think I am going to have a flat there. There are fine beaches, with the first real sand we have seen since we left Australia. Hurry up and write to me.

Lots of love, Nan

Gyllyngdene Hotel, Falmouth, Cornwell. England - 15.6.1957.

Dear Timmy,

We haven't had any of these to eat yet, but we have eaten Cornish ice cream, which is made from butter and is really delicious. We had a long car drive yesterday and stopped to look at the Atlantic Ocean at a place called Hills Mouth. We talked to a sea-gull with one leg, poor bird. The gulls are very much bigger than most of our Australian ones. If we go to Mousehole on Tuesday I will sent more cards from there.

Lots of love G.A.N.

Gyllyngdene Hotel, Falmouth, Cornwall. England - 15.6.1957

Dear Merry,

I used to know this prayer when I was a little girl like you, We are going for a bus trip tomorrow to a place called The Lizard. Look on the map and see if you can find it. Ask Mummy to tell you the rythme about - St Ives. We went there yesterday and saw almost millions of cats. They play on the beach, which seems a funny thing for cats to do.

Love from, Nan

About these Postcards.

Meredith, Penelope and Timothy.

My Great Aunt Nancy enjoyed travelling the World during the years from 1957 to 1962. Nancy was my Grandmothers younger sister, she was a Nurse before she met John Watson who was a patient of hers, he thought she was a very cranky Nurse so from then on, into their marriage, he and those living at the 'Homestead' called her 'Cranky' so 'Cranky' she remained at 'Wollogorang', the Sheep Station they lived on.

My family called 'Cranky' by her given name of Nancy, Nan for short but I lived at 'Wollogorang' on and off during my late teens even working there for long periods so she became 'Aunty Cranky' to me.

Cranky and John had one daughter, Susan, my first cousin-once-removed who spent some time traveling with Cranky and some time, at what was called back then, 'Finishing' Schools.

I loved my Aunty Cranky very much, I could spend hours and hours just sitting and listening to her long stories of her travels, she also bought me most of my childhood books which along with these postcards introduced me to the Big Wide World which I have now seen much of myself, but never with her style.

These Postcards were sent to me, my brother Timothy, my sister Meredith and when he was born to my youngest brother Nicholas. When Mum and Dad moved to a smaller home, Mum was going to throw these Postcards out but I, being somewhat of a hoarder, couldn't bear to see that happen so I saved them.

My brothers and sisters can follow this Blog and remember along with me those wonderful postcards that arrived at regular intervals from places some of which we had never heard... Wonderful Memories!

There are 320 Postcards on this Blog, many are obviously missing and who knows how many never arrived, what a prolific Postcard sender our Great Aunt was.

Someone in our family decided that they were a Stamp Collector so almost none of the cards still have stamps on them which is a big pity... I wonder where those stamps are now! In some bin I suspect.

BTW Cranky was far from cranky to me, she was loving if a little strict on how I should behave, she had a desire to turn me into a 'Lady'... which she failed at I'm afraid although I remember a few do's and do nots.

Enjoy, along with me, this view of a world in the late 1950's

P.S. 2015.

I put all these postcards into a large folder, then when my sister Meredith lost everything and her home to savage bush fires in Perth I sent her the Postcards to keep.