British Mandate period postbox

My father (GRHS) fought in the Second World War and after he was demobbed (allowed to return to civilian life) he decided to stay on 'Z' reserve and received 8 shillings (thirty seven and a half pence, or U.S. 90c) a week from the British Government for doing so.

Then came the Korean War, and as he was on Z Reserve, he was called up (drafted).

My mother and I used to go to the park and on the way, we would post letters to my father while he was in the army in Korea. The postbox was set in a stone wall, and dated from the days of Queen Victoria. It was unusual to see such an old postbox even then, and it was in part because the box was old that we posted the letters there, because we felt (or my mother encouraged me to feel) that in posting the letters from such a special box, we were somehow protecting my father from what might otherwise happen to him.

So today, when I saw this postbox set in the wall in front of a building near here, I was carried back to those days when I was a small child.

The lettering on the flap above the slot, reads 'POST OFFICE', or at least I can read the word POST and the last two letters of the next word, so I expect that is what it reads. From the style of the lettering I think it dates from George VI, who was King from 1938 to 1952, though it may date from his father's reign.

UPDATE: A dear friend, Julian Barnett, tells me he thinks the box was much more likely to date from the reign of George V. And sure enough, a quick look at the records of one of the societies in England that specialises in postboxes (pillar boxes if they are freestanding) shows me that the sans-serif style of lettering was used in George V's time. So, unless this box was a late-comer, it probably was erected/inserted, in the reign of George V.

The little half-cup shaped handle at the bottom is there, and I remember these well, because as a small child they seemed to me to be such a satisfactory design, and special, for they were only for the postman to use, as was the lock.

I remember postmen would carry a large bunch of keys or a ring that was several inches in diameter - with keys that were maybe five inches long or more, to open the various postboxes on their rounds.

The postbox is cast iron, showing the influence of the industrial revolution that made such a mark on British design.

I think that to the right of, or underneath the notice at the top of the postbox, there was once the crest of the Royal Family.

The notice at the top is in English and Arabic, - no Hebrew - but it does refer to Friday and Eve of Holidays, so it seems to have a Jewish connection.

Ivy on Palm Trees and Lotto

This palm tree in the courtyard of offices of the Society For The Protection Of Nature In Israel, here in Jerusalem, is nicely trimmed and perhaps because of the rain recently, the ivy looks perky.




Lotto

Architectural Detail on Ben Yehuda

Above the shops, the architectural from an earlier time.

Cats

Today the 29th January, it is windy and bitingly cold, despite the sun. And the cats about the town seemed to have a kind of measured alertness in their stride. And others were sitting warming themselves in quiet spots, like this one.

There are thousands of cats living here and it is obvious that the overwhelming majority have no owners and are living their cat-lives among the rest of us, and seem none the worse for it.

Beit Hama' laot

On the better part of King George Street (George V, from the British Mandate period) and not far from the Great Synagogue and some new Univeristy buildings, there is a lovely building that dominates a corner, and on the building there is this plaque.

House styles

I had not intended to make a comparison of the standards of housing in Jerusalem through these three photos. And the fact is that the second of the photos is of a house that is dilapidated by Jerusalem standards. But the three photos do serve to make the statement that there is a multiplicity of styles and standards here.

A glance above the shopfronts on Ben Yehuda, a pedestrianised street in the centre of town, shows some buildings with beautiful architectural detail. Whereas some of the shopfronts themselves look like poor newcomers living in the ruins of another civilization's former glory. That said, the new bank on the lower corner of the street carried echoes of the future; of what the street will be like 20 years from now, when development money moves in. It is all glass and smooth Jerusalem stone. And it echoes the past, because it is only a year or two ago that on the site there stood a labyrinthine store, selling 'everything'.

But that is not all the story, and the amount of new building on the fringes of the city (mostly for living accomodation) is staggering. It is new building on a scale and with a pace and energy befitting a first world country, which it seems this country aspires to be. For the moment though, downtown Jerusalem is like lower Manhattan south of the Port Authority, or like parts of London South of the Thames - poor and old, but lively.

Pesach

The Jewish day begins and ends at sundown. Which means, say the commentaries, that the day moves through darkness to light.

The consequence is that Jewish holidays begin on the evening of the first day and end at sundown on the last day.

'Erev' Pesach is the first evening of Passover, and this year it is on the 2nd April (14 Nisan 5767 in the Hebrew Calendar), and maybe I can be the first to send a card : )



Card design © David Bennett