Tea Room Postcard #21 - Pier Hill Tea Room, Southend-on-Sea (U.K.)

Since I wrote about England all week, I thought it might be fun to share a vintage postcard from there as well. When I found this one online, I was intrigued because of the Pier Hill Tea Room shown slightly left of center. It sure looks like a busy, bustling place, a reminder that the seaside has been attracting visitors for a long, long time. Even though I've never been to Southend-on-Sea, I'd love to go one day. I first heard of Southend-on-Sea two years ago when I was at the beach antiquing and came across this teacup. So now, of course, I'm alert to things related to Southend-on-Sea.

Alas, the back contains no correspondence, but I still enjoyed reading the oh-so-British-sounding wording: "This space may be used for printed or written matter" and "Only the address to be written here." It's a funny thing how the words we use can give us away. I was in Harrod's buying books for a couple of friends on my last night in England, and when the nice young clerk asked if I had a book discount card, I replied, "I do not." He grinned and asked if I was possibly an American. "Yes," I said. "How did you know?" He said that even though the British people usually think of themselves as having the best manners, if he asks them if they have a discount card, they reply, "I don't." He said "I do not" is actually the more polite response, and it usually comes from Americans. Who knew? (Maybe he just made the whole thing up to flatter me, but it worked!)