In: from the United Kingdom - of Mail and more Peter Rabbit

To do something 'post haste' means to do something quickly, I learned from John who sent this pretty postcard. Which gives a clue where this phrase comes from: the mail coach travelled faster than any other vehicle.



On the back of the postcard a matching illustration, and an other postage stamp from the Beatrix Potter stamps serie, showing Squirrel Nutkin:



Sent three weeks before the postcard above, but arriving a week later than the previous one, is the following postcard, showing the Port Sunlight Post Office. It has been built in 1891 and is part of the model village, built by Lord Lever / Lever Brothers to accommodate workers in their soap factory.



Jemima Puddle-Duck, also created by Beatrix Potter, more than a century ago, is the character on the stamp on the back of this card:



Inbetween the arrival of both cards, John as well as the Royal Mail and Dutch PostNL surprised me with a nice envelope (well, here I'm showing the two stamps only):



'Surprised' because the size of this envelope was far below the minimum sizes Royal Mail and PostNL prescribe, nevertheless the mail carriers did pick up and deliver the tiny envelope without complaining!



Thank you very much, John!

In: from the United Kingdom - of Mail, Transport and Peter Rabbit

Mail transport, a tram and the railway station, to my opinion always nice themes to see. And I was happy that John sent these in one postcard!

On the back side more vehicles:



Also related to mail is of course the mailbox, a famous one from the United Kingdom is the red pillar box:



The stamp on the back side of this card is a 'bridge' to a postcard John had sent me some time ago, namely an illustration by Beatrix Potter of a character from the tales of Peter Rabbit. This is Benjamin Bunny, Peter's cousin:



The card sent / received previously shows Peter Rabbit himself, plus a squirrel and Jemima Puddle-Duck:



Peter Rabbit also shows up on a stamp, accompanied by a stamp of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, the hedgehog:



Thank you very much, John!

In: from Germany

This beautiful postcard, showing local wildlife, was sent by Margit from Germany.
Of these German animals, the two animals on the rocks - the marmot and the chamois - don't live in the Netherlands, as there are no mountains in our country.

Until receiving this postcard I didn't know that the (North-American) raccoon is living in Europe, too. But a short search in the internet taught me that raccoons have been introduced in 1934 in Germany, and have been introduced later in Germany and France also in some other ways. They appear to feel comfortable here, and have expanded their habitat a little to other countries, too.

The card was accompanied by this matching stamp, issued for the protection of the environment, the Alps in this picture. You can see the marmot again, and the steinbock.



And Margit surprised me with an other great postcard! The platypus is native to Australia, but I am very happy that this platypus traveled from Tasmania via Germany to my home.



On the back a pretty stamp showing the Löwenburg (Lion's Castle) in Kassel.



Thank you very much, herzlichen Dank, Margit!

In: from the United Kingdom

This extraordinary house postcard I received from John.
It has been completed circa 1610 and is named 'Little Moreton Hall'. How large this National Trust site is, you can see the beautiful pictures by John, on his blog post of 3rd of March.

In: from the Netherlands

Ontvangen van Mariza uit Nederland, deze eekhoorn. Hartelijk dank, Mariza!

Received from Mariza from the Netherlands, this cute squirrel.