september 25th 1907 mj to marie ogier le patourel

poplar, london to st peter port, guernsey, channel islands

180 miles

the message

"Dear Marie

Thanks for your card. My cold is much better. But castor oil is no good, neither is pidgeons milk, in fact our pigeons dont milk. Our cat hasn't got feathers, but I'll try one off the rocking horse. Weather is fine now. I wish I had got some more holidays. Don't try and break your cousins leg as croquet its so cruel.

Love to all

MJ"

the sender

The initials look like "MJ" but may not be. If they were "MJ" then the send might be Marcus James Le Patourel (1886-1949), the elder brother of the recipient but it really could be anybody. It probably isn't Marcus because that would mean that he had written his own surname incorrectly.

the recipient

Marie Ogier Le Patourel (1892-1976) was one of eight children. Her parents were Alfred Le Patrouel (1857-1923) and Emily Gaudion (1861-1933). Alfred was a farmer and cattle breeder. In 1911 Marie was working in her father's dairy. Marie did not marry but she was a frequent traveller overseas especially to the USA where, incidentally, her brother Marcus was born.

Marie was 15 when the card was sent.

Another card sent to Marie in the same year can be found by following this link

what the card says to us

The picture is of a tree lined avenue. There is snow on the ground. There are people in the photograph who may or may not know that they are included as they are quite far away. There appears to be no connection between the picture and either the family or the message.

The message is full of jokes suggesting quite a close relationship between sender and receiver. Perhaps you had to be there. If you ignore the jokes the message is a medical bulletin, a weather report and an expression of regret that a holiday, presumably on Guernsey, is over.