The unofficial start of summer, Memorial Day, has come and gone, despite the fact that June is not quite here yet, and the vacation season is upon us. Vacations became a major subject with postcard artists around mid-century, when postcards stopped being everyday communication ad became brief messages from far away (postage went up, and telephones became more common.) So there are plenty of postcards which deal with how much better a couple of weeks away from the daily grind can make you feel.
Well, actually, I found just one, seen at the top of this column, and THAT is mostly an ad for the healthy effects of visiting the baths in Hot Springs. There are MANY more postcards about how rotten vacations make you feel.
Whether this is an accurate reflection of the strain of moving outside one’s routine and working hard to have fun, or just an expression of guilt at leaving your friends behind in the humdrum reality from which you have escaped, the theme of “Wow, I’m exhausted; wish I was back there mowing the lawn and kicking the air conditioner with the rest of you” is to be found on card after card.
Yes, these cards say, all the overeating, overdrinking, overexposure to fresh air and sunshine, and over (pick what you like to do when YOU’RE out of town) takes its toll. That peanut butter sandwich and 1 ounce bag of chips down in the receiving room sure looks good when you’ve been in sidewalk tables consuming steaks two inches thick and beverages with umbrellas in them. Gosh, you tell your friends, you don’t know if you’ll survive.
If you have the kind of friends most of us have, this is going to convince nobody: that’s part of the reason for sending such cards. You’re rubbing it in their faces. But there is another theme which is more realistic, and which they WILL believe.
Whether YOU’RE exhausted or not, these cards tell your friends, your supply of ready cash has died while out of town.
In fact, those peanut butter sandwiches may be cut down to one slice of bread for the first month or so after you get back to work, and you will be well into October before you can go to the vending machine and pay for that ounce of salted carbs again.
Your friends, who have taken out loans for exotic vacations themselves, will appreciate the thought that after your swell trip, you’ll be sticking those souvenir umbrellas in paper cups of tap water at lunchtime for some days to come.
If they envy your tan, you tell them by postcard, they should reflect that, after all, it cost you roughly twenty bucks per square inch. You may hint that blue sky and sunshine alone did not cost you your savings, but at the same time, you ARE thoroughly broke now. And if they are STILL jealous of what you did on your summer vacation, however much it put you in debt….
After all, you’re not claiming you didn’t have a good time.
Blogsy Babbles 