Need a bit of help reading handwritten French here

[snorkackcatcher]

Because my French is ... well, let's say very weak! Online or printed text with a dictionary at hand, maybe I can get the gist. Scruffy pencil handwriting on an old postcard? Nah.

The card(s) in question, picked up on eBay recently, were posted in Folkestone during World War 1:



(Larger and probably more readable version here)

Now the circular handstamp on the lower one reading "Cercle Militaire/(Albert)/Folkestone" was something I'd heard of: it referred to a club for Belgian soldiers passing through the town, set up by the Belgian Refugee Committee in the Parish Church of St Michael on the East Cliff. They seem to have collected mail from the men for later posting in the local post office. I've no chance of reading that one though, as it appears to be in Flemish.

Interestingly though, the other one looks as if it might have come from the same source before they started marking the cards, as it's written in French (I can at least pick out a few phrases!) and like the later card was only charged a halfpenny postage due despite being posted unpaid. (Normally at this date the charge on delivery was twice the deficiency -- so a penny here, since the inland postcard rate was a halfpenny up to June 1918 -- but if posted unpaid by a soldier on active service the addressee was only charged the single rate. Quite a scarce usage.)

Why yes, this is the sort of thing postal historians like. I'm sure the people I know in the philatelic world would be equally bemused by fandom. :)

Anyway, after all that, can anyone make out the full message on the card in French? I'd like to know if it gives any indication of being posted at the Cercle.

Comments

[catkind.livejournal.com]

Fascinating. Can't resist a challenge. Reckon I can get the beginning but can't make head nor tail of the end. How's this for a start?

Chere Jeanne
Me voici a Folkestone,
encore un jour de plus
a ajouter, je trouve la
pays assez pitouresque. Je
vois meme que Ninie
poura t’en v?????. Demain
j’embarque, avec mon ami
Max, qui se ju’??? a mini.
pa?. te souhaiter un bonjour
??? des baisers ??? enf. amities
a [Stefanie?] et [Madonna?] un ???
???? a tout le monde. etc.

Sure someone more competent will be along soon!

[snorkackcatcher]

That sounds reasonable to me -- and the "embarque" reference certainly sounds like it might be from a soldier? Thanks!

[dreamer-marie.livejournal.com]

Le 19. Chère Jeane,

Me voici à Talkestone. Encore un jour de plus a ajouter, Je trouve le pays assez pittoresque. Je crois même que Renée pourra t'en causer. Demain j'embarque avec mon ami Max qui se joint à moi pour te souhaiter un bonjour. Bien des baisers aux enf(ants). amities a Wolfram et Madame, en un mot, a tout le monde.

For the second one:

Mijnheer,
Met deze zend ik u mijn beste groeten. Daar ik u niet meer heb gezien op mijn vertrek en Dank u Dergelijk voor mijn verlof dagen bij u ze hebben moog doorbrengen met veel plezier.
Uw Vriend, ...

(it's barely legible, but the story is that the sender is thanking the recipient for the visit in the recipient's home during leave: the tone is very respectful, so the recipient is probably of a higher social standing than the sender)

[snorkackcatcher]

Oh, great! That certainly does sound like the sort of thing a soldier on leave might write. Thanks Marie -- and for the second card too! I did wonder if you could read it, but wasn't sure how big the divergence between Flemish and Dutch was these days.

[dreamer-marie.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! The difference between Flemish and Dutch isn't so great, especially in written form. That doesn't mean that I understand someone speaking Flemish :-)