The British Museum is always a good place to visit, learn, and pick up some nice gifts. I went there a couple of weeks before Christmas not to look at the mummies, but to get some proper Christmas postcards. Those have become increasingly rare to find as the places you would usually expect to sell postcards insist on selling badly drawn cartoons of a fornicating Zanta Klauz. Or a drunk Rudolf the Randy-eer. Very funny.
Even if you can find a decent design with a Christmas tree, it will be defaced with an idiotic “Season’s Greetings/Happy Winter Holidays” message. When you do find postcards with more traditional winter/Christmas designs, their designers will try to “help” you by printing ready made, “neutral” greetings right where you would otherwise want to write a few warm words.
How rude.
You might just as well “sign” them with a rubber stamp from a pre-school type lettering kit.
I spent about 20 minutes browsing through the postcard stands at the British Museum shop before I eventually found one (yes, one!) set of postcards with a reproduction of an old painting that actually had something to do with Christmas, did not insult me or the recipient with a crappy design or toilet “humour”, did not wish the recipient “Happy Time Off in The Second Half of December When The H&C Line Is A Bit Less Packed”, and, had no “safe” greetings printed on the inside.
Once I got my prize I started browsing through the books for sale and had to sadly conclude that the British Museum shop still does not sell David Lodge’s “The British Museum Is Falling Down