I’m currently reading Mail Obsession: A Journey Round Britain by Postcode by Mark Mason. It will be reviewed in due course. First I have to finish it, then it has to come to the front of the queue. I have a copy, so I could have photographed it, but I’ve lifted it off Amazon because I’m lazy.
This gave me an idea.
I’m already ticking piers off the list, and am committed to writing about it, but I need something else to do in the gaps. Something that helps me practice writing but doesn’t involve me in travel, as I don’t currently have the time or the money.
So, instead of travelling round Britain by postcode, I’m going to write posts based on the parcels I’ve addressed. It will be a bit hit or miss, as it depends on how many orders we get, who packs them and how fast I go.
It’s not very adventurous, but if I want a life of adventure I’ll buy a bike and cycle to work round the Ring Road.
Today we start with GU 22, BS 20 and BL 5.
The town giving its name to the GU code is Guildford, and GU 22 is Woking. I’m sure I’ve been there in the past but a lot of those Southern places look the same to me. Woking is claimed to be the site of the oldest purpose built mosque in the UK (1879), and the oldest purpose built crematorium .
Apparently 13 holders of the Victoria Cross have been cremated here. And a horse. They burned the horse for practice in 1879 then waited for cremation to be declared legal in 1884. It seems a strange business model – building a specialist facility for something that isn’t legal.
BS 20 is next. BS is Bristol, and number 20 is specifically Portishead, North Somerset. I started to take an interest when I saw a reference to Portishead Pier, but it appears just to have been a working steamer pier. That’s a useful thing, but not as interesting as a pier with chips and amusements.
Time to get No 2 son to work now, so must shoot off.
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Writing over and over my son’s post code, I finally figured out some of what it meant…I rather like the system. Here, we start somewhere on the east coast with a 0 then by the time you hit California, there’s a 9. That’s the way it seems anyway. As we get civilised, we get numbered. Not sure if there’s anything more interesting through the numbers. This series has been fun so far. (Sorry, reading backwards in posts).
My post make as much sense backwards as forwards. 🙂
I’m just grateful for readers, whichever way you read.
A brilliant idea. I hadn’t known about the horse and cremation
Same here, the Victorian history of cremation is a fascinating one.
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In Maine,there is always a gap between towns, but alas often times that gap is filled with ugly strip development. What were we thinking when we constructed them? Good thing we have so many trees to make up for the strip development.
Sadly we are densely populated and short of trees. 🙁
What an excellent project. You will never run out of post ideas!
I’m not so sure. I’m already struggling for interesting facts.
Every postcode tells a story!
I sent one to NG6 today – about a mile from the shop. That one tells me the recipient doesn’t travel. Is he ill, a recluse or an evil dictator bent on world domination?
‘a lot of those Southern places look the same to me’…not like the Midlands where every town has its own distinct personality eh?
Apart from Stoke. I do have trouble telling Fenton from Burslem from Hanley from …er…the others.
Generally we leave a gap between towns where I find the south tends to be all lumped together