There are some unexpected flashes of humour in the archives relating to the Great War. Sometimes there’s a satirical, almost gallows humour aspect to this, explored in a recent blog post about the Wipers Times.

Volunteers have been digitising and transcribing a collection of letters from George Bradshaw, a hospital orderly. Sometimes he took advantage of the postcards usually given to patients to send a quick note of reassurance to his parents in Moston.
World War One hospital postcard

These multiple choice postcards must have been a godsend for those unable to write a longer letter.
Today I was organising some of our World War One flickr photo collection into a postcard set.
At first glance I thought this was the same type of postcard message.
But then I looked a bit closer!
I would love to know who devised and printed this skit on a hospital postcard, especially for Christmas.
The shared sense of humour really brings the soldier who sent it to life. I hope he had a cheerful Christmas. He deserved it.
Card sent to mother