I love this card, part of the collection that my mother donated to the project. We have family in DeKalb (miss you!) and she must have bought this card on a visit there. What’s more, I love that it celebrates DeKalb’s contribution to the invention of barbed wire, which probably made these men with fantastic sideburns very, very rich.

sent from: London, UK. destination:Los Angeles, California, USA

– Smells like a fucking curry house down here
This was the man who followed me to the bathroom underneath the pub where we were enjoying a nice Saturday lunch. As we were standing at the urinals he looked over –
– Fuck me you gave me a fright. Thought someone had taken a hammer to you.He was referring to the mix of Holi colours that were still on my face
– Go ahead, enlighten me, he asked.
I told him
– So where are you from, Australia or New Zealand?
I told him I was raised in the UK but had lived a long time away
– Well you sound Australian, he insisted, as though unhappy with my answer. I felt vaguely threatened, alone in the basement with this man. Maybe he was going to pull out a hammer. I made some noises about adapting to where you’re living.
– I’ve lived for decades outside of Yorkshire and I still sound like a Yorkshireman
He did.
Have a nice day, I said, and smiled.