February 16, 2017

I fully admit that I have nothing prepared for this week's Five on Friday. It's been a tough week.

Here's five photos of post boxes.  I can't tell you much about them, other than where they are.
This one's in Bath.We stayed there for a long weekend a couple of years ago and walked past this between town and our hotel. It's Victorian, as you can see from the impression on the front. Pretty, huh?
We found this one a few weeks ago in Shrewsbury. It's right next to the Abbey (of Brother Cadfael fame) Also Victorian, but not the same design as the last pic. Taller and narrower. Someone on my Flickr feed has trumpeted this as being 'original' and warned against replica and fake 'Victorian' boxes in other parts of the country.  I'd hate to think the Bath one isn't real.
Oddly, this is just round the corner from the Shrewsbury Abbey model. I admit I've never seen a wall-mounted Victorian box before, so it might be what my Flickr pal was warning me about.
Another wall mounted version - this time a lot younger. It's in Castle Donington in Leicestershire. I love the way it's been given its own 'frame', presumably to give it enough space at the back to hold posted letters. Look at the size of its 'mouth'. Letters have clearly got much bigger since Victorian times.

I've saved the best till last. Ignore the ugly brickwork and very poor standard pointing. This one can be found in the old Cadbury village of Bournville just outside Birmingham. George Cadbury cared deeply about his work force and built a special village for them surrounding the factory. It offered much higher standards of living than were available in the city. Green open spaces, large houses, gardens, and relatively clean air.  The architecture was also tasteful, as shown by this wonderful post box. As far as I know it's unique.

Sorry this post's pathetic. I promise to try harder next week!

16 comments:

  1. First ... give yourself a hug! Sounds like you might need one. Second, I enjoyed seeing the different, red, post boxes. Hugs!!

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  2. Not pathetic at all! I love the tall, thinner post box from Shrewsbury and must look out for it next time we visit. Like the one from Bourneville too, that is a place I'd like to visit one day:)

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  3. Not boring at all, you obviously have a love of pillar box red post boxes and why not, they are a classic! They're much more attractive than the modern yellow and blue contraptions we have here in France.

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  4. I really enjoyed your five post boxes and shall certainly look more closely at post boxes in the future. Have a good weekend and I hope next week is much improved.

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  5. I love seeing these! So iconic. Love there are different kinds, all that lovely shade of red. Hope next week is better for you.

    Happy Five on Friday

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  6. Isn't it amazing that there can be so much variety in the same thing!

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  7. I think it's a great post. You'll have to go to Windsor and see the ones there one day. 😊

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  8. Not pathetic at all, love the red postboxes and always look for them when we're in England.

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  9. I actually enjoyed seeing the boxes. Hope you have a good weekend and next week is better for you.

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  10. Loved each of your five for Friday! Nice history around the last one. Have a wonderful weekend.

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  11. Our motto: never complain, never explain. I actually thought your post was interesting and informative.

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  12. They certainly put our ugly blue hulks to shame.

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  13. I am so sorry you've had a tough week. Sending virtual hugs your way. Hoping next week is easier. As to your post I loved it. Love street furniture and how it changes over the years and our red iconic post boxes are a great visual of change

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  14. I have four china money pillar boxes bought from the Royal Mail shop many years ago. One is blue and was for Air Mail. Like public telephone boxes I suppose the Internet and use of mobile phones will see their passing eventually.

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  15. It's not pathetic - I really enjoyed it. I think you are right about Victorian letters being smaller as my house is Victorian and the letterbox was so small that the postman had to fold birthday cards in order to get them through. Very irritating, so we enlarged the hole and fitted a modern "standard" letterbox. x

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  16. Sorry you've had a rough week. I think the post boxes make for a great post - each one unique. Here's to a better week ahead.

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