ApproximatelyInfinite

it's definitely not impossible, it's just that everything has to go to plan for the personal-delivery way to work. by nature i tend to worry about things, so ignore me sometimes, but i just think the safest bet would be mailing direct. 1) we'd have to get our whole act together ASAP for them to be mailed and together by early december. and what happens to the straggling postcards that come late? they never get delivered? 2) debs can be notoriously slow at repling to emails and questions. i think we should tell her our plan by the end of this month. 3) i don't think we can DEFINITELY count on someone being at the bakery. sure, the guys live nearby and might stop around for a bit, but keep in mind that the bakery is a studio and a living room, not an officebuilding. it's small. debs almost definitely doesn't have an office there, and i highly doubt there's always someone there, sitting at a front desk. it's the band's personal HQ, from what i understand, but not the ACTUAL HQ. that's still EMI. most of the time, there's no one in it, i don't think, at least more than picking something up, dropping something off etc etc. most of the times people have been there, it's been perfectly abandoned. i don't think we can count on people ever actually being there, and i'm also wary about someone actually meeting someone there in person. that requires them to do work on OUR behalf, and i think they'd still like to pretend that the location of the bakery is a big secret. and are ian and jen definitely meeting with the band in manchester, or are they just going to the concert as normal people? if they are, we can't count on them delivering the postcards. besides, venue security wouldn't let them in with a mail sack or box! anyway, i REALLY have to go, but that's just my two cents. being a worrywart, i see lots of holes in the "deliver them personally" plans.

haha, do we really think debs is the oracle? i'm not so sure myself, but whatever :P i'm not so sure about the big package idea, but that's just me. if that's what it comes to, i'll obviously participate! i just think it would be kind of messy, mailing so many things to one private person, who then has to collect them all in a box or bag and go to the bakery and...what, fling them over the gate? leaving them in front of the gate isn't smart, i don't think. there's no door to knock on, just the alley with a garage door, two big windows on another side, and a gate to a carpark and entrance at the back, which is locked pretty much always, i would assume. besides, i get worried about them just SITTING out in the cold and the rain if the guys don't happen by the bakery for a few days. i feel like they'd get destroyed just sitting on the other side of the gate in a bag, and that would be really sad.

that's also possible, about sending them to debs, but i don't know. i worry that if we send them to the wrong place, this will all come to nothing. we know the EMI address works. i think it only took like 6 months for jessica to get a response because they needed to wait for coldplay to be around again to sign and personalize the albums. plus, packages take longer than postcards to be mailed, and there's more to read in a package containing a letter rather than a single postcard. i think her package ARRIVED at EMI in like 2 weeks max, but they just didn't get to it for a long time. i think that if EMI was suddenly INNUNDATED with mail for coldplay, the guys would hear about it from someone and their interest would perk. i'm just not optimistic about getting a bakery address, and i don't think we should mail anything anywhere but to an address debs says would work, or the already working EMI address.

:cheesy: oh my god, look at the thread!! i'm cak for like 20 mins, then i really have to go again :sad: haha, well i didn't say I would design the logo--i'm crap at this sort of thing. i was going to ask semy, photoshop extrordinaire, but he' having computer problems at the moment, and we have some lovely ones here! when i was living in holland, i mailed a batch of like 15 postcards home. some took three days to arrive, some took a MONTH, and they were all the same, mailed to the same area at the same time from the same mailbox. i think it really depends, and it's hard to judge when things will arrive. i was thinking about having everyone START mailing the postcards like november 25 (around american thanksgiving...AND when prospekt's march is released) and then STOP mailing them like december 20. and as for postcard costs: for me to mail a single postcard from holland to america, it cost one euro. unless you're REALLY hurting for money, i don't think this is really going to be an actual issue for anyone, but of course if it is, this isn't obligatory :D :cheesy: i LOVE the template. i LOVE the spot for the flag. i LOVE everything. however, i think delivering postcards to the bakery in person in one load is impractical and hard to do. i agree it would be much cooler that way, but i fear that's where our plan would unravel. agreed. in my opinion, we either need to have a confirmed address from debs, or we mail it to the EMI address we already have (which DOES work). the alley door is not the bakery. when semy and i went, you go around the corner on the next road (i think it's agincourt), and there's a gate onto a little car park/court yard that was locked, and the entrance was there. i did't see a mailbox, but apparently there is one. all the same, unless we can get a bakery address (i'm not optimistic that debs will give us one), i think we shouldn't try to mail them there. i LOVE all the enthusiasm!!! i think this will really work!

haha, ok, i was REALLY overeager by saying 5-8. you're right, grace and everyone. i guess TWO is like the ultimate limit then :D but that means we have to be MORE persuasive in getting coldplayers to do it! i think we need to think up a good ad campaign :P I REALLY NEED TO GO. WHY AM I STILL HERE?!?! something tells me if that this idea keeps steam all week, my film paper is going to suffer...:laugh4:

limit 5-8, maybe? i do think our intent needs to be clear that its about GIVING THANKS, not taking anything. we've taken so much already :D OK, I'M REALLY GOING NOW. and i :heart: coldplaying :nice:

very true, but i think we need to make it very clear that they WON'T be getting anything back, since they're just postcards without return addresses. if people are looking for things in return, they should write their own letter in addition to this :D

oh yeah, i'm just getting prepared, if people are willing you use any of my ideas :D. we definitely need to get organized before we do anything outside of this thread :P. i was thinking next week sometime, but we want to get these there in time for christmas, right? i think that would be super nice :nice: anyway, i really need to go shower and go to bed, but lore, this is a fabulous idea. i'm willing to help as much as you'd like, especially this weekend. i like letter writing :P

i should be writing a paper :dozey: this is what i have so far for a preliminary list of rules to coldplayers (perhaps in a sticky thread and a mass-PMing to everyone? and lots of advertising in signatures?) we should probably say that it's fine to mail in as many as you want, too!

i changed one line so far: "Wherever Coldplay fans live and whatever languages they speak, something every one of us could do was drop a postcard in the post with a short message in any language sharing a personal Coldplay experience." (i took out one of the many instances of the word "thanks," so maybe that makes it better?)

yes, i'm very good at repeating myself. i thought the same thing. any suggestions of lines to take out/rework?

haha, you guys are too nice :blush: :D but it DOES need an ending, a good one. i suck at endings. so i need help with that :D. i have a lot of work this week, but as of friday afternoon i'm free for four days and can really work on this if need be. that's not to say i'm dropping helping now (i need SOMETHING to procrastinate with! :P), but i can really do more this weekend.

pfft, thanks, but it needs constructive help. people add/take out/rewrite, please. i'm working on coldplaying instructions now :P

yes! i love that idea!! ok, so for a cover letter to coldplay, this is what i have so far. it's a VERY rough draft, and it still needs and ending. i suck at endings. feel free to rip it apart. it's a bit sappy. once this is hammered out, then a letter to debs and a instruction manual to coldplayers can be written off of that :D

OOH! what is it? should a bunch of us email her now asking for an address, and then just one of us email her the formal letter later? how should this part of it go?

haha, me neither! right now i'm working on a very rough draft of a cover letter to coldplay, and i think that parts of that could potentially be used in a letter to debs, which i'd also be willing to help with. but someone that knows how to reach debs (lore?): i think we should drop her a line asking for a good address right NOW so we have SOMETHING to go on, and then send her the formal letter thing later in the week to see if she gives us the same address. i'd also be willing to write a general "instruction manual" to coldplayers, n00bs and oldies, explaining the intents and purposes of the project and what the guidelines are.

that's brilliant! :cheesy: i could write in crude arabic and english :P i have an in there :sneaky: i'll ask him tomorrow.

i was thinking of getting someone particularly good at photoshop to make a logo/seal thing for the project that everyone would paste on the postcard so they'd know it was part of the project. maybe that's too complicated? how short would this period of time be, though? it takes varying amounts of time for the international postcards to reach england, so i think that the period of time should be like, 6 months long, just in case. i think it would be lovely to have the first ones get there just before christmas, though :nice: ahh, letter to debs. maybe it could be a similar letter to the one we're going to send coldplay, just addressed to debs with some of the pronouns changed?

definitely agree. i'd probably send one from my college and then one i made, for example :P. and probably more than that, just to make the numbers appear greater. gotcha, lore :wink:

i think both would be great and appreciated :D

the average postcard size is 10 by 15 centimeters, or 4 by 6 inches (i have one right here that i just measured :P) i might work on getting my ideas out for a letter, because i'm bored :D then everyone can add to/take away from/rip apart.

i was just thinking the same thing :nice: this place really is one of the best in the world, and it doesn't even physically exist :lol: i think it could REALLY work. i'd be willing to send in like 100 postcards just myself to get the project going! i'd help you 100%, lore, if you wanted. i have a thing about correcting grammar :P. just let me know if you need/want it :D just a little idea i have; tell me if you think its crap: i think it would be cool if some people actually made their own postcards too, like postsecret. so many people on here are amazing at photoshop/art/etc, and the rest are relatively competent. i feel like things like grace's siggy or some other avis/siggys i've seen through the years on this site printed on a 4X6 inch card would make an EPIC postcard to them, and would almost mean more. and they're still from far away because, well, they are REALLY mailed from far away. that's just me, though :P

i think we'd have to get on asking debs, like, RIGHT NOW. if i remember correctly, she's not that punctual with her answers. how do we contact her again? i think we should ask her right now and begin to wait for an answer. i'd be totally willing to write or head up the writing of some sort of cover-letter to the project. of course, since it's lore's idea, she gets first dibs, but i rather like formal letter-writing, and i also :heart: this idea. i had a vague idea that i would send them a postcard because of the title of the song (to accompany my letter i sent aaaages ago), but i didn't think of making it a mass-movement! i love it, lore!

awww, graceeeeee, i love that image :nice: i imagine them wearing scarves and stuffing their face with cookies too :lol: i think we should really try for a mass-movement of coldplayers sending in postcards to them. i think sending in more than one is great too. i know i would totally innundate them with mail :P how readily does debs reply to questions these days? i might pop off a note to the oracle too, not that i expect him to answer. in the meantime, though, we do know that the fanmail address works, if it isn't the most direct. i just feel like they wouldn't so willingly give out the bakery's address or whatever. they must know that some of us know where it is by now, but them actually publishing the address online miiiight not be something they'd want to do. i bet if we asked, they'd tell us just to use the fanmail address. i love the idea of someone dropping them OFF at the bakery, but its a bit hard to do it that way, because then the postcards would be addressed to the person living in london dropping them off rather than COLDPLAY. i feel like that slightly defeats the purpose.

^that's what i understand from all this. meaning us crazy conspiracy theorists from last spring were kinda RIGHT! :lol: :dance: