#11 ST HILDA’S
Souvenir of a visit to Oxford: this is the coat of arms of St Hilda’s College, where my mum studied. Note the coiled snake, which looks a lot like an ammonite. According to legend, Saint Hilda of Whitby turned a plague of snakes into stone; ammonites (which are found along the Whitby coast) often had snake heads carved into them as symbols (or souvenirs) of this purported miracle.
#12 PEENEMÜNDE
Some years ago I spent an excellent road trip going around northern Germany visiting huge abandoned Nazi structures: the rocket works at Peenemünde and the holiday resort at Prora (which you can see in the postcard behind it – a small section has been turned into a youth hostel, tho’ the overall structure is IMMENSE.) You can read more about the travels (and a third ruin-exploring adventure, the postwar Teufelsberg in Berlin) here.
#14 BRUGES
Bought while passing back through Belgium coming back from the trip which also involved badge #13. We climbed the cloth hall tower, stopped for moules frites in the square, and talked about what a fackin fairytale fackin town it is, how can that not be someone’s thing? (Not technically an enamel pin! A portrait pin, with a printout under an acrylic dome on a metal back. Nice in itself, but I feel not as interesting as the cloisonné style you get with enamel. Maybe I’ll go back some day and get another.)
#15 WHITE CLIFFS OF DOVER
I bought this visiting my aunt and uncle in Deal, just up the coast from Dover. We explored the White Cliffs, visited the Fan Bay deep-level shelter and the acoustic mirrors used to detect aircraft and shipping there, and retired to the National Trust visitor centre for cream tea. As we were tucking in, a Spitfire flew overhead. It was possibly the most British moment of my life.
Background is a pocket Jane’s book of hovercraft my uncle lent me.
#16 ROMNEY, HYTHE & DYMCHURCH RAILWAY
Part of the same trip was a tour on the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch railway, all the way along the coast to Dungeness. For those who don’t know it, the RH&DR is a charming 15”-gauge miniature railway that runs along the southern Kent coast. This badge shows “Hurricane”, which took me from Hythe to Dungeness power plant. You can see pictures of it here: https://www.rhdr.org.uk/locomotives/hurricane/
My favourite Hungarian visited me in London in the summer of 2016 and I was pleased to show him around all our best war museums. Top to bottom: The Tank Museum, Bovington; HMS Belfast; the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth and the RAF Museum in Hendon.
Another trip to Budapest. This is the Hungarian coat of arms (note the tiny tilted cross on top of the Holy Crown of Hungary), on top of a small sack of good Hungarian paprika.
Souvenir of a visit to my author friend Philip Reeve. Dartmoor is one of the most interesting (not to mention beautiful) landscapes in England, absolutely full of wonderful old historical remnants – the beds of long-gone railways and stone-tracked tramways, mines and warrens and shooting ranges and powder-mills. Background is the cover of Philip’s first novel, Mortal Engines, through which we became friends.
From a visit to an old Danish pal in Copenhagen, a pretty little badge with the Danish coat of arms. Background is the paper bag it came in – note the Little Mermaid statue.
The pin habit had become well established by the time I bought this souvenir of my first proper holiday with my partner. We spent a week in Greece, spent largely in Athens but with day trips out to the Meteora (a poster of which is the background), the islands of Hydra, Poros and Aegina, and an unplanned but lovely extension in Kalamata caused by an air traffic controller strike.
underneath the open sky 