Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, is the home to over 400,000 people. This city is located along the northern coast of the country and is the largest city there. Tourists can explore the place easily on foot, especially in the two old towns, Lower Town and Toompea.

Sent: 9 October 2009
Received: 20 October 2009

Rotterdam is a large sea port city located in the Netherlands and is the second largest municipality in the country. Its port is the largest in Europe and can be accessed via the Meuse and Rhine rivers. This port used to be the world’s busiest port from 1962 to 2004.

Sent: 12 October 2009
Received: 20 October 2009

This postcard from the Netherlands shows golden leaves of autumn. In the northern hemisphere, this season is from September to November each year. On the postcard is a Dutch phrase:

‘Voor ze echt gaan vallen, worden ze eerst van goud, neem je de tijd hiervoor…’

This can can be translated as:

‘Before they fall from the trees, they first turn gold, take your time to enjoy…’

Sent: 13 October 2009
Received: 21 October 2009

Starting from today, The Restaurant will upload postcards from time to time for your viewing pleasure. As there are many postcards coming in every week, we sincerely apologise if your postcard is not shown here. Please do not be upset, it may appear on this website some time later. For those who are interested in exchanging a postcard, please drop me an email.

Today’s featured postcard is a black-and-white postcard. It shows a beancurd vendor walking down a narrow street in Xitang, an old town located in China. A long shadow is cast behind the man, suggesting that it is early in the morning. Xitang is a water town, divided into eight sections by nine converging rivers. The various sections are linked to one another by stone bridges.

Sent: 10 October 2009
Received: 27 October 2009

Over the week, the (physical) mailbox at The Restaurant was clogged up by an ever-increasing number of mail items received from different places around the globe, such as Finland, Germany, Italy, Taiwan, Thailand and the United Kingdom, and mainly consisted of postcards (via the Postcrossing Project). In order to prevent further clogging (especially by advertisements which force their way in every now and then), clearing of litters letters are now carried out on a daily basis.

Amidst the haystack of assorted postcards which arrive in my mailbox every day, there were, at times, one or two postcards from Singapore.

A postcard from Singapore

 This postcard was printed on a 4 inch by 6 inch plain index card on both sides. It was dropped into the postbox on Monday, 20 July 2009, at 1600 hours, and should have arrived at its destination on Tuesday. I waited for a few days, thinking of possible reasons for the non-arrival of the postcard. It could have been eaten up by the machines, either because the cardstock is too thin, or that it had exceeded the maximum allowed postcard length of 148 mm by 4 mm, of which both would be considered non-standard mail.

Surprisingly, the postcard arrived in the mailbox, in the afternoon of Friday, 24 July 2009. More surprisingly, there was no cancellation on the stamp. Even more surprisingly, the postmark dated 23 July was on the reverse side (which featured abstract art which does not resemble a stamp in any way), indicating that the postcard was processed and cleared at the Singapore Post Centre on 23 July (and not on 20 July). I have no clue as to how this unique cancellation originated. Also, the three day delay remains a mystery.

Unconvinced that index cards cannot be used as postcards, I sent another two postcards on Monday, 27 July 2009. The design used this time was much simpler than the previous one. Both postcards were identical, right down to the postage stamp. The next day, these two postcards swiftly arrived in my mailbox without any delay. Spot the difference!

One of the postcards could not be cancelled automatically by the machine but had to be cancelled by hand. The other postcard, however, was successful in getting a machine cancellation.

Postcards from Singapore are strangely interesting!