COVER N. 524 - FRANCE

Postmark: Bureau Philatélique of Lyon Bellecour - 21.10.2024 

Posted on the 21st October; Received on the 24th October 2024

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They called it "The longest day"... that was also the name of the book by Cornelius Ryan that I had on my bedside table when I was  a lad of  say 13 or so.... a time, for boys, when all wars are winnable, when only good prevails, when all soldiers are heroes,  when you'd want to be one of those heroes, when you never think that heroes are mostly remembered for having given that most precious possession for a cause...when focus on the future is achieved at the infinity mark on one's inner lens....

The truth could not be far from that, we all know, but sometimes there is no escape: for good to prevail,  force has to be corresponded by force, with all that this simple equation entails.... 

Lest we forget, they said in 1918. Well, by 1939 they all had forgotten and the mad dogs were on the loose again, their leashes held by the hands of a deranged lunatic, who drove the world to 6 years of the utmost brutality that has ever been witnessed, whose devious mind and those of his closest followers, conceived the unconceivable.... a final solution, they said....an euphemism for sheer horror....

And Man thought we would never see such lack of empathy, such cold, irrational behaviour, such barbarity.... and yet, we have plenty of examples in the past since then when this was not so... Even today as I read on the news that the people that once suffered horrors is the same that is bringing horror to others in a way that can never be justified or excused, or even conceived, after being also brutally and senselessly attacked, while those that promptly and justifiably so were fast to condemn the aggression coming from the eastern steppes, turn a blind eye (not to say, overtly support) on a politician who thinks himself above the laws of war and international respect and co-existence.

Peace talks... you'd have to be interested in Peace to talk about it. None of the sides seems to be so.

There was a moment in time. The leaders even won the deserved Nobel Prize, 30 years ago. Then they were eliminated by those they sought to protect... 

The longest day was not the 6th June 1944... the longest day is the history of Man, from the day it evolved from ape to man...in his relentless fight for freedom and his unabated will to deny it....

When will we ever learn?

Un grand Merci Eric, pour ce joli pli avec le bloc commémoratif des 80 ans du débarquement en  Normandie!

The 6th June 1944

The beginning of the end for the Second World War, and of the liberation of France and Europe, from the boots of the Nazi beast.

Lest we forget!

Highlighting this important anniversary, La Poste issued on 10JUN2024  the lovely souvenir sheet with a single 1,96 stamp that Eric use on this particular  letter.

The stamp features the image of allied soldiers  (American, British and Canadian, mostly)  advancing towards the towns of Sainte-Mére-Église, the first to be liberated on the 7th June,  Avranches (30 July);  and Metz (13 December).

It is difficult to devise in the stamp but the image of  the church of Sainte-Mère-Église does include the famous parachutist - John Steele -  dangling from its tower, in which his parachute become entangled. This famous image has been since permanently recreated on the spot by a  mannequin dangling from a parachute, which I had the pleasure of seeing quite a few years ago when I visited the area.

On the foreground of the stamp is a newer monument (or at least I have no recollection of it). The zero milestone of the road to freedom, implanted in front of Saint-Mère-Église Town Hall.

Is should be noted that this souvenir sheet highlighting operation Neptune, the landings in Normandy, is the companion to another beautiful creation by the same designer - Louis Genty - conceived to honour the 80 anniversary of Operation Dragon, the landings at the Cote d'Azur, which I mentioned on post regarding cover #521.

Monsieur Genty was also the artist behing the outstanding souvenir sheet on cover #458.

POSTCARD N.167 - RUSSIA 

Postcard sent on the 21st September, received on the 22nd October 2024

Postcard image: Immanuel Kant

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A surprise from Russia in the guise of a Maxim Card  dedicated to one of the lights of the Enlightenment, sent by The Flying Dutchman. Hartelijk dank, Eric, que é o mesmo que dizer: Muito Obrigado!

Immanuel Kant (1724 - 1804) one of the greatest philosophers of all times, was born and died (and lived all his live, it seems) in what was then Königsberg, Prussia, and is now Kaliningrad, the administrative capital of the Russian Exclave of the same name, nested between Lithuania and Poland.

On the tercentenary of his birth, Marka, the company responsible for producing Russia's stamps, issued, on 22APR2024, the commemorative 70 Ruble stamp used on the maxim card, equally issued by the same company, which Eric so kindly made sure I would receive.

Postage was completed with a 30 Ruble stamp  issued on 17MAR2021, part of a set of identical face value stamps dedicated to  Fedoskino miniature lacquer paintings, a type of folk art that emerged in the 18th century  in the city of Fedoskino, consisting of miniatures painted with oil paints on papier mâché.

The images on the stamps are those of lacquer boxes from the collection of the Moscow Regional Museum of Folk Art Crafts and besides Tea Party (1946) by V.I. Lavrov, which illustrates the stamp on the card, there are stamps featuring images of the following works: "Ruslan and Lyudmila" (1971) by M.S. Chizhov; The Firebird (1959) by S.V. Monashov; and Ivan da Marya (1989) by Yu.V. Dotsenko.

The Very Nice maxim Card which is cancelled with a First Day postmark from Moscow, was mailed to me from the City of Saint Petersburg, as can be grasped from the Postmark cancelling the stamps actually used to post the card.

COVER N. 523 - SRI LANKA

Postmark: Headquarters P. O. Colombo Mail 10.09.24

Posted on the 9th October; Received on the 14th October 2024

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UPO anniversary cover for World Post Day, from Sri Lanka. Thanks a lot Ravi!

 

The Universal Postal Union was created in 1874, in Bern, Switzerland, where it has been headquartered ever since, as the General Postal Union, with a view to harmonising international mail delivery. As of  1878 it changed its name to the current designation, Union Postale Universelle or Universal Postal Union, and in 1948 it became a body of the United Nations.

During its 1969 congress held in Japan, the Indian delegation proposed that the anniversary day for the Union - the 9th of October - should thenceforth be declared World Post Day. 

The proposal having been accepted, the 9th of October has become synonymous with celebrating postal services and their relevance, all over the world.

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the organisation, so a lot of its members are issuing stamps  dedicated to the occasion, under the motto 1250 years of enabling communication and empowering peoples across nations, with their designs being basing in the official graphic resources created by the UN agency for the occasion.

Such is the case of Sri Lanka who, on World Post Day,  issued the two 50 rupee stamps  on the cover, cancelled with a postmark of this particularly significant date, from the central Post Office at Colombo.

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COVER N. 522 - FINLAND

Postmark: Lempäälä 37560 Posti 08.10.2024 

Posted on the 8th October; Received on the 15th October 2024

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A very carefully treated cover received in a protective bag.  Kiitos paljon, Esko! 

 

I can imagine that in such a northern latitude, the Sun and its warming light assume an extra importance that us, in the south, have always taken for granted. 

Thus, it is fitting that "The Glow of the Sun" be the theme chosen for a two se-tenant priority stamp set issued on 11SEP2024, one of which can be seen on the cover, illustrated with a nice sunset with some flowers on the foreground.

The second stamp on the cover was also issued on 11SEP2024, included in a five stamp set dedicated to popular Hobbies. Frisbee golf is the sport highlighted by the image in the stamp, the four other hobbies selected for being featured in the stamps being Hobby Horse Riding (quite an uncommon sport, if I may say so...); Trekking; Freeclimbing and Postcrossing.

COVER N. 521 - FRANCE

Postmark: Bureau Philatélique of Lyon Bellecour - 07.10.2024 

Posted on the 7th October; Received on the 10th October 2024

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Operation Dragon, such was the codename for the landing on the shores of the Cote d'Azur, which was conceived to be executed at the same time as operation Neptune, the landings in Normandy, so as to apply pressure on the German occupiers with a set of huge military tweezers squeezing from both sides. 

In practice, Operation Dragon would only come to be more than two months after Neptune, (which began on the 6th June 1940) on the 15th August, for the sheer scale of the operations imposed logistic limitations that had to be taken into consideration.

As a result of this operation, the liberation of important cities in the south of France, like Marseille, Lyon or Dijon, was achieved and by September the American and French combined forces coming from the south would join the allied contingents advancing from the west and finally progress into Germany, finally liberating France from the Nazi beast, one would have tought forever...

Un grand Merci, Eric pour ce splendide bloc!

On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Provence landings La Poste issued on 14AUG2024 the souvenir sheet Eric used, comprising a single 1,96€ stamp, illustrated with several French soldiers (some from the African Colonies) looking  across the Mediterranean towards the soon to be liberated cities of Toulon,  Marseille, Lyon and Dijon, the last three represented by their imposing cathedrals, featured on the souvenir sheet.

Postmark from the Bureau Philatélique of Lyon Bellecour.

COVER N. 520 - FRANCE

Postmark: Bureau Philatélique of Lyon Bellecour - 07.10.2024 

Posted on the 7th October; Received on the 10th October 2024

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Canadair…. On first look it may sound strange, but the noun formed by juxtaposing a distant country’s name and the place wherein everything undulates, everything exists, as Mario de Sá-Carneiro, the famed Portuguese Modernist poet once put it, is a summer household name for the south of Europe.

Forest fires…. a consequence of climate change and  mismanagement of forest but also of natural causes or not so natural devious minds fuelled by the pleasure of seeing everything gown down in flames…..

Every year my country is plagued by this reality and the situation only tends to get worse for indeed climate is changing fast and the summers are getting hotter and drier with each year that passes. All it takes is a spark, and huge expansions of forest are decimated, property and life put at risk. The current year was one of the worst, with almost 150 thousand hectares of land affected by fires, with the loss of 9 lives, direct of indirectly due to the fires, not to mention property and  the horrific impact on fauna and flora.

Aerial means like helicopters, airplanes and drones are irreplaceable in their role as first line fire-fighters, and for large forest fires like the ones we unfortunately have to deal with, heavy water bombers are really a much needed tool.

Enter the Canadair, in its several guises: 215; 415 and now 515

Conceived in the 60s of last century right from the start as a water bomber by Canadian concern Canadair (which would in time be incorporated into Bombardier) the original type, the twin-engined 215, first flew in 1967 and was produced between 1969 and 1990. It has two 1,400 litres water tanks which can be discharged simultaneously or individually or in sequence, and be filled rapidly by means of rotatable scoops that direct the water into the tanks while the plane moves across a large body of water like a lake or a reservoir.

Introduced in 1993 and produced until 2015,  the CL415, has an improved water tank capacity, of up to 6,140 litres and more powerful engines, but it too has been superseded by the new DHC 515 (DeHaviland Canada now holding the manufacturing and development rights) of which the first units are now being built, with again an improved water tank capacity of up to 7,000 litres.

The Canadair, as the mighty workhorse will be forever known irrespective of manufacturer or type, has more than proved its worth with the Civil Protection bodies of several countries and I’m am very pleased to know that Portugal will finally have its own Canadair fleet (2 aircraft) by 2029, after years and years of contracting services and relying on the help of the European Mechanism for Civil Protection.

The contract for the acquisition of the two DHC-515 to be delivered in 2029 and 2030 was signed on the last 18^th June, both aircraft being paid for by Portuguese and EU funds, under the RescEU Programme. The two aircraft will be operated and maintained under the responsibility of the Portuguese Air Force, and they will be stationed at the Ovar Air Base, in the north of the country.

France has been an operator of the Canadair since 1967, first with a fleet of CL215 and nowadays with 12 CL415 which are based at the Sécurité Civile base of de Nîmes-Garons.

Their importance within the European Civil Protection Mechanism is quite relevant and I, for one, am thankful to France and the EU to have had more than once French Canadairs (or Pélicans, as they are also known in France) helping to dramatically quench forest fires here in my country. Merci, la France, Merci l’Union Européenne.

And Merci Eric, for this beautiful cover featuring the 1,29€ stamp issued by La Poste on 05JUL2024, dedicated to the Canadair of la Securité Civile, illustrated with a painting of a CL415 doing what it does best.

 

I love the care Eric had in composing this cover with the beautiful mosaic of Marianne Stamps (6 x0,10; 2 x 0,01 and 1 x 0,05 €) from the  23JUL2018 issue, so as to complete postage.

Postmark from the Bureau Philatélique of Lyon Bellecour.

COVER N. 519 - BRASIL

Postmark: ACC Beira Mar Shopping Florianópolis - SC 19.09.2024 

Posted on the 19th September; Received on the 3rd October 2024

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I love the stamps on this Portuguese speaking cover. O meu muito obrigado, Lucia; os selos são lindos e uma boa forma de lembrar os laços inquebrantáveis que unem os nossos dois países.

Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral will be forever remebered for several achievements,  in the field of aviation and geography, the most famous of them all being the courageous first South Atlantic aerial crossing operated in the East to West direction, in 1922.

I've talked about this crossing and the stamps celebrating its centenary in the post pertaining to cover #172, so I'll just refer that the two 2.35 reais stamps illustrated with the image of the Fairey IIID (of which three were needed to complete the flight), the portrait of the aviators  and the Portuguese "Cross of Christ", to this day the insignia of  both the Helicopter Squadron of the Portuguese Navy and of the Portuguese  Air Force, are part of a se-tenant set of three, issued on 01AUG2022.

The remaining two stamps are part of the definitive sets, issued between 2005 and 2011, dedicated to Professions. The shoemaker, (0,20 R$) is part of the first set of three stamps issued on 30DEC2005, while the Manicurist, (1 RS) belonged to the second set, comprising two stamps, issued on 06NOV2006.

The Postmark indicates that the letter was mailed from a post office installed in a shopping mall - Beira Mar Shopping - in the city of Florianópolis, the Capital city of the State of Santa Catarina in the south of Brazil.