Joining Tom Jackson – recorded in the golden, faraway days before lockdown – to discuss the postcards from their pasts are novelist CAROLINE O’DONOGHUE and journalist ESTHER WEBBER. Amongst other postcard diversions, we explore non-threatening boys on a Paris balcony, ponder the twin villages of Brixton and Westminster, the unlimited charm of David Sedaris, and the loneliness of the long-distance academic. Wish you were here?

Brussels, 1976. “Linda isn’t having any difficulty spending money depite the language difficulties.”
The Glastonbury Thorn, 1984. “ I’ve got told off for singing too loud in the chapel. Keep seeing Westminster Banks in obscure villages.”
Caroline’s Paris card – a vision of who she wanted to be, or her family thought she wanted to be?
The Simpsons – a card from Caroline’s brother.
Esther’s card, sent from a friend who was working in Istanbul,  but purchased from the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill.
A card from Barcelona. Esther’s sister sent her this card, when Esther was starting to make a name for herself in journalism. It reveals that Esther has a namesake who is a successful life-coach and masseuse.
Tom’s card of an unexplained image on a card of Sitges.
Unsettling detail of the same.
Lyme Bay, 1982. “I hope that this card finds you well. Take great care. Thank you for the grapefruit spoons.”
A treasured postcard: sent to Caroline by the writer David Sedaris. 
Elizabeth Taylor. This card holds connections for her to her grandmother. 
Purbeck, 1966. “We had a lovely week at Swanage last week. Frankly I don’t like Bournemouth.”
A musical postcard: the Laboe naval memorial.