Life in the Countryside

There are no trains, crowds, or food stands. You won’t find any of these signature city attributes in a Cypriot village. The average traveler visits the popular attractions of a destination, soaking in local culture and history, but rarely engages with the true personality of the area. Cyprus is certainly not the exception because when you visit the city of Limassol you’ll find the promenade, the water park, and the ancient ruins, but will you truly understand what Cyprus has to offer?

The Elderly, who grew up in Cyprus, were raised during a time when villages still operated as fully functional societies. Each village had a school, a doctor, a church, and market, so everyone was able to meet their needs without having to travel to another village. People lived in one village their entire life possibly. The day in the village would begin with a breakfast consisting of cereal, eggs, fruit, and halloumi. If you’re not familiar, halloumi is a wonderful cheese that does not melt when fried, creating a deliciously unique dining experience. After, breakfast, the family would venture down to the Old grandfather’s coffee shop. Since most of Cyprus consists of mountainous terrain, walking to the coffee shop from the house was always an adventure. The roads were narrow and the cement was patch worked together over dozens of years by local village dwellers. Beautiful grape vines grew everywhere from any crevice or crack in the cement, crawling up walls and over awnings. It was and possibly still is a wonderful natural life in many parts. Merja sent me this nice card.

Aviator Roger Sommer

“SOMMER IN BIPLANE BEATS WRIGHT'S TIME”; Flies 2 Hours 27 Minutes 15 Seconds Around French Course and Makes World's Record. HE STARTS BY MOONLIGHT Frenchman Pupil of Farman, Who Designed Machine and Slept While Sommer Flew with Damaged Wing.

These then were the headlines in a French newspaper that Autumn morning in 1909 about that famous aviator Roger Sommer.

Born on 4 August 1877, the son of a felt manufacturer at Mouzon, Roger Sommer became interested in machinery, won fame at age 18 as a bicycle-racer, and built a one-cylinder 4-wheeled car. By the end of 1908 he had built his first aeroplane, a large biplane which foreshadowed Henry Farman's Type III of 1909. It had a monoplane forward elevator, the pilot seated on the leading edge of the lower wing. Sommer's design included a pair of small wings at the middle of the 4 tail-booms, with the rectangular rudder placed just forward of the biplane tail surfaces. The engine, reportedly an Anzani, was mounted below the lower wing, driving a pusher propeller mounted in the middle of the airframe; but photographs show a 50 hp water-cooled Vivinus, which Sommer knew well, since he owned a 60 hp Vivinus automobile. The machine rolled on 3 wheels.
As the third aviator at Chalons, Sommer had his hangar between Farman's and Voisin's, and his machine was tested there in the spring of 1909, achieving only occasional hops. There in May Sommer met Farman and bought one of his Type IIIs, which was delivered at the end of June; Sommer installed the 50 hp Vivinus.
On 7 August 1909 he became famous by bringing back to France the endurance record previously held by Wilbur Wright: Sommer had flown for 2 hr 27 min 15 sec. In December he sold the Farman to Daniel Kinet, since he had finished his own completely successful design: this 1910 Sommer was to undergo many alterations, and several were built in different forms; by the spring of 1910 he had 58 aeroplanes on order and 60 men working for him. Maria sent me this very interesting card.

Athens the Monument of the Unknown Soldier - Tsolias

The massive rear terrace wall of the broad, rectangular Parliament Square (Plateia Voulis) on busy Vasilissis Amalias avenue opposite Syntagma Square, forms the monument called The Monument of the Unknown Soldier was decided on in 1928 and designed by the architect Emmanuel Lazaridis in 1929/30. The main element of the monument is a large bas - relief representing a dying Greek heavily armed soldier (hoplite, in the Archaic and Classical periods) by Kostas Demetriadis (1881 - 1943). This is based on the dying nude hoplite in the east pediment of the early 5th - century BC temple of Aphaia on the island of Aigina in the Saronic Gulf. On either side of the relief is the ancient Greek text of Perikles funeral oration given in 431/30 BC (Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, II, 34 - 46): The bronze shields on other walls commemorate military victories since the Greek War of Independence (1821). The monument was unveiled on 25 March 1932 (Greek Independence Day) during the last government of Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos (1928 - 1932). It is guarded 24 hours a day by two Evzoni (or Tsoliades), members of the Presidential Guard (Proedriki Phroura), an elite, specially chosen unit of the Greek Army. The Evzoni (meaning well-dressed) were created by King Othon to serve as the personal guard of the royal family. Their uniform is based on a traditional 19th - century style costume form southern Greece. The red Ottoman - style felt cap symbolizes the blood shed in the revolution against Ottoman occupation, or the Struggle. Its black tassels stand for the tears of the Greeks shed during 400 years of Ottoman rule. The 400 pleats of the kilt (foustanela) equal the number of years the Greeks were enslaved. The pigskin shoes (tsaroukhia) with pompoms are a traditional form. The Evzoni now serve as an honorary guard for this monument and the presidential palace, as with a more formal changing of the guard ceremony occurring every Sunday at 11:00 am accompanied by military band.

The monument is used as a backdrop for two important holiday parades each year in Athenian and in Greek life. First occurs on March 25th, the national birthday of the country. On this day in 1821, Bishop Germanos of Patras, at the Aghia Lavra Monastery in Kalavryta, in the mountains of northern Peloponnesos, officially declared the start of the revolt of the Greek people against the Ottoman rule, by raising the flag. The President of Greece, the prime Minister and other dignitaries review the collective military might of the Greek armed forces marching up Vasilissis Amalias avenue, and then down Panepistimiou Street. Jets and helicopters fly overhead. The second national holiday falls on October 28th, the so called NO Day, when unending squads of elementary and high school pupils, as well as girl guides and boy scouts, along with marching bands and a military honour guard troop pass in front of the Minister of Education, following the same route. In 1940, on this day, in response to the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini’s ultimatum that Greece surrender or face invasion by his troops from Albania, the Greek dictator Ioannis Metaxas responded with a simple, but clear, NO! Thus, started the tragedy of the World War II for Greece. For many in the tourist industry, the 28th of October marks the end of a long season. Both are impressive parades to observe first - hand! Thank you Merja for this lovely cover.

Wife Carrying in Finland

Yes that’s right. This is no joke. In Finland this sport is taken very seriously and there is an annual event for it. There are many thoughts as to how this sport first originated in Finland. Tales have been passed down from one person to another about a man named Herkko Rosvo-Ronkainen. This man was considered a robber in the late 1800s, lived in a forest, and ran around with his gang of thieves causing harm to the villages. From what has been found, there are three ideas to why/how this sport was invented. First, Rosvo-Ronkainen and his thieves were accused of stealing food and women from villages in the area he lived in; then carried these women on their backs as they ran away, (hence the “wife” or women carrying). For the second idea, it has been said that young men would go to villages near their own, steal other men’s wives, and then have the woman become their own wife. These wives were also carried on the backs of the young men; this was referred to as “the practice of wife stealing." Lastly, there was the idea that Rosvo-Ronkainen trained his thieves to be “faster and stronger” by carrying big, heavy sacks on their backs, which could have eventually evolved to a sport because of the hard labour (endurance), and muscle strengthening; which most sports ensure. Even though this sport has been considered by some as a joke, competitors take it very seriously, just like any other sport. Wife carrying is now practiced in the United States of America, Hong Kong, and other parts of the world besides Finland, and has a category in the Guinness Book of Records. Merja who sent me this card wanted to convince me about this sport. I am convinced, and I genuinely feel that this event must be included in the next Olympic games.

Fanfan la Tulipe

Fanfan la Tulipe is a 1952 French comedy adventure film directed by Christian-Jaque. It has also been categorized under swashbuckler films. The film starred Gérard Philipe and Gina Lollobrigida. The film was remade in 2003 with Penélope Cruz in Lollobrigida's role.

Directed by Christian-Jaque Produced by Francis Cosne
Georges Dancigers
Alexandre Mnouchkine Written by René Wheeler
René Fallet
Christian-Jaque
Henri Jeanson
René Wheeler

Starring Gérard Philipe & Gina Lollobrigida

Music by Maurice ThirietGeorges Van Parys Cinematography Christian Matras

Editing by Jacques Desagneaux

Distributed by Filmsonor.

Release date 21 March 1952.

Running time 102 minutes.

The film is set in France during the Seven Years' War. As the film begins, Fanfan (Gérard Philipe) is a charming, attractive young man who is trying to escape a shotgun marriage. At this vulnerable point in his life, he is approached by the daughter of a recruiting officer, Adeline (played by Gina Lollobrigida), who tells him that if he joins the army, he will find fame, fortune, and will marry the king's daughter. Accordingly he joins the army, only to discover that she made the whole thing up in order for her father to get a recruiting bonus. Nevertheless, encouraged by a series of improbable circumstances, he accepts her prediction as his destiny. A series of events ensues which shows off to great advantage his athleticism and leadership ability. As the film progresses, we become aware of a developing attraction between himself and Adeline which however conflicts with his perceived “destiny” of marrying a king's daughter. Thank you Maria for a lovely card.

John Wayne in The Oregon Trail

For those of you who, like me, are still interested in vintage English films, especially those with the Legendary Great Actors, then The Oregon Trail a 1936 Western film starring John Wayne is a must. Incidently this card is much sought after. I won’t spoil the fun by telling you the story, but a few details of this film given below would go a long way in whetting your appetite for it :-

Directed by Scott Pembroke;

Produced by Trem Carr;

Written by Jack Natteford, Lindsley Parsons and Robert Emmett Tansey

Starring John Wayne & Ann Rutherford

Cinematography Gus Peterson

Editing by Carl Pierson

Release date(s) 18 January 1936.

Running time 59 minutes.

This nice Card was given to me by my dear friend Maria.

The Dambuster's

The Lancaster was the RAF’s best heavy bomber of World War II. It first saw active service in 1942, and together with the Handley Page Halifax it was one of the main heavy bombers of the RAF, the RCAF, and squadrons from other Commonwealth and European countries serving within RAF Bomber Command., The "Lanc", as it was affectionately known, became the most famous and most successful of the Second World War night bombers, "delivering 608,612 tons of bombs in 156,000 sorties." Although the Lancaster was primarily a night bomber, it excelled in many other roles including daylight precision bombing, and gained worldwide renown as the "Dam Buster" used in the 1943 Operation Chastise raids on Germany's Ruhr Valley dams. Originally designed to carry an 1800kg bomb, the adaptable Lancaster was later equipped to carry a variety of bombs, most memorably the spinning, bouncing bombs of ”Dambusters” fame. Designed by Barnes Wallis, they were carried by the Lancasters of 617 squadron led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson, to breach the Ruhr dams. Thank you Maria for this wonderful card, where the aircraft is in embossed plastic. Surely a collector’s item.