A sense of place(s)

The topic for A Letter in Mind this year was "a sense of place", and months ago I had had a sort of idea, but let it drift ... past the deadline. Then the deadline was extended, and on the very last day I happened to be at home with nothing in particular to do (and all sorts of things to avoid doing!), so I found some paper and started sketching out a few ideas -

 The idea was to cover the envelope with postmarks containing the names of towns I'd lived in throughout my life.  First I needed to research what a postmark actually looked like. Fortunately I knew exactly to find the big box of stamps recovered from envelopes at work, all those years ago -

Postmarks from 1993 and 1994, from envelopes containing
manuscripts of medical articles in pre-electronic days

The list in the little address book bought in Cambridge in 1974 was a big help, in fact it probably sparked the idea -

Seeing the photo, I noticed the line near the top saying "15 separate addresses before this!!!" Before noticing that, I had drawn up a list of those previous addresses, as near as I could remember, but seem to have forgotten two, somewhere. Some dates, the month anyway, are guesses.

Gersfeld, Germany 5/48

Ste Adele, Quebec, Canada 5/52

Ste Agathe 7/53

2635 W.10th, Vancouver, BC 7/54

18035 Ford, Pitt Meadows 8/56

17515 Ford Detour, 7/57

SFU residence, 5-8/68

(2187?) de Maisonneuve, Montreal 9/68

W 8th Ave, Vancouver 6/69

22?? York Ave 11/69

?? St Giles, Durham 9/71

6 St Monica Grove, 2/72

Trebaluger 68, St Luis, Menorca 11/72

and then to Cambridge.

For the past couple of years I've had a sort of idea to revisit all the places in the UK that I've lived - Durham (2), Cambridge, Holmfirth, Oxford (2), that's not so many really. I tried looking them up on the streetview, without much success. Best to go in person...

Meanwhile, with the hours-to-deadline for A Sense of Place ticking by, I had a different, simpler idea, and hopped on the Victorial Line with some envelopes, and pen, in hand -

Victoria line, southbound and northbound

The sections fortuitously divided themselves up, and the entire line filled three envelopes. Never mind the ragged margins - it got done and sent off.