...a ninety-nine year old Christmas gift

"To my dear sweetheart. Wishing you a happy Christmas. Your loving husband Fred. 24th Dec. 1917."

We shall never know the identity of this affectionate couple, who have doubtless long-since departed this world. But this touching expression of sentiment remains.

Among this anthology of Longfellow's poems is his marvellous Psalm of Life.

 

Lives of great men all remind us

   We can make our lives sublime,

And, departing, leave behind us

   Footprints on the sands of time

...the continuing conflict

Christmas 1916 was a miserable one for the progress of the War, with the bloody Battles of the Somme and Verdun barely over, and the 1915 Battle of Champagne - to which this postcard refers, and during which some fifty thousand died - by then just a distant memory.

There was no Christmas truce in the trenches this year, as there had been in 1914, and even in a few places in 1915.

"The War to end all wars" ground on.

...Edwardian Christmas Postcard

It is generally accepted that the modern Christmas celebration, of cards, decorated fir trees, carols and exchanges of presents, was a Victorian invention. Indeed, it is sometimes said that Victoria's consort, Prince Albert, was largely responsible for popularising the traditions. Others credit the influence of Charles Dickens' immensely successful 1843 novella A Christmas Carol. What do I think of Christmas?  Do I say "Bah Humbug"? No, I say "God bless us everyone".

...a concert ticket

This concert at the Crystal Palace Bowl in June 1972 was not exactly a washout, but those of us who came unprepared for a not untypical British summer's day suffered a real soaking from a thunderstorm.

The line-up of groups was great: Joe Cocker, Richie Havens, The Beach Boys. But the day was cold and miserable and, as one young attendee reflected, there was a lack of any atmosphere.

http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/Garden-party-72.html

The whole concert was apparently filmed, but only extracts of it now seem to be available.

Here is taste of that day: https://youtu.be/uS6m0fN-Ow0

...Royal Engineers' insignia

Here is another mystery. This is Royal Engineers insignia from the Second World War. But what is the significance of the warthog, since I can find no reference connecting it to the Royal Engineers?

Did the different companies of Engineers have different emblems?

...a mystery float

Here is a photograph dating from the early years of the twentieth century. Who were these people? Why had they decorated a float? Were they participating in a parade? There are no real clues in the photograph, except that they had paused on the road near a church or chapel, and that all were dressed in their best, other than the bearded gentleman holding the horse.

...German minefield Flag

This wartime souvenir was a marker for German minefields during the Second World War.

It is stamped RLM for Reich Air Ministry, the Reichsluftfahrtministerium, which is a slight puzzle, though the person who acquired it did visit the V2 rocket launch site at Cuxhaven, Germany, in 1945 and may have collected it there.

The Germans used a variety of signs to mark minefields, usually with a skull and crossed bones, including a triangular cloth version of this sign.