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Saturday, May 16, 2009

A Festival of Postcards: Wheels





My husband and I bought this postcard in Portmeirion, Wales, during a vacation in Great Britain in 1987. The postcard does not have any writing, stamps, or postmarks on it because it ended up being an extra one that we didn't use, so we kept it as a memento. This type of bicycle was known as the penny farthing, high wheel, high wheeler, or ordinary bicycle.

Submitted for A Festival of Postcards: Wheels.

9 comments:

  1. the design is beautiful - and I'm wondering what the questions are referring to???
    Thanks for participating in our Premiere Issue.
    Evelyn in Montreal

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  2. So, you have been to Wales! When we are next in the UK, it is one of our destinations. We really are kindred spirits!!! Great postcard.

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  3. Evelyn - The questions and answers were always featured in the opening of the TV show The Prisoner, starring Patrick McGoohan, aka No. 6, supposedly the same character as he played in Danger Man (a British series known here as Secret Agent) - John Drake - who had been imprisoned on a strange island (actually Portmeirion), probably for knowing too much. A mysterious and ever-changing No. 2 would ask him these same questions every week and these would be his same answers every week.

    Linda - I think you will love Wales. We did, and I can't wait to go back some day.

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  4. Nice postcard. Reminds me of a bike my older brother had when we were little. In my mind-it was like a giant tricycle. I need to ask him if it really was or if it just seemed that way to little me. Thanks for calling the memory to my mind!

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  5. What a great card! Perfect for this festival of wheels.

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  6. A nice picture, but I can't understand the card. What does it mean?

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  7. The words are a series of questions and answers that were exchanged during the opening credits of the TV show The Prisoner, which had a sort of Kafkaesque premise - a former intelligence officer is imprisoned on a remote island (filming was actually done in Portmeiron, Wales, which has an unusual architectural history that comes across on the show as a surreal setting) for reasons unknown/unexplained and is subjected to never-ending questioning of this type to get him to confess. He tries various schemes to escape, but always ends up back on the island. Sort of an anti-authority/anti-authoritarian theme.

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  8. The Prisoner! Those were the days! I used to love that programme.

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  9. Hi Sheila - Yay, another Prisoner fan!

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