COVER N. 721 - BRASIL

Postmark: AC Central de S. Paulo 12.05.2026

Posted on the  12th May;  Received on the 27th May 2026

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The second letter I got from Brasil on the same  week bore the trademark of Luis, with whom I've been exchanging mail for quite sometime now:  a perfectly made envelope  using recycled paper, which I find is quite a fine and intelligent way of using paper that otherwise would end up in the bin. Muito Obrigado, Luis. Resposta em breve, como habitualmente.

- Ginásio Pernambucano is the oldest school in Brazil, having been functioning uninterruptedly since 1825, that is 200 years ago.

First located at Convento do Carmo, (Carmo Convent) in Recife, a Carmelite run convent, it occupied several facilities until finally being established in a purpose built building where it has been functioning since 1866, still in the city of Recife, the capital city of the State of Pernambuco.

Celebrating its 200th anniversary, Correios do Brasil issued a 3,7 Reais stamp on 01DEC2025, illustrated with an image of the building and the official logo of the institution.

- Think "Garota de Ipanema", the immortal song authored by Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Morais with a beat that in its essence is a watered down samba and there is Bossa Nova for you, the genre that became so popular in the 60s that it transcended frontiers with stars like Frank Sinatra or Ella Fitzgerald including it in their repertoire.

On 22NOV2025, Correios do Brasil issued a 3,70 Reais stamp celebrating this relevant musical genre, the stamp design clearly highlighting its Carioca origins trough the inclusion of the two main hills that dominate Rio de Janeiro's landscape, - the Pão de Açucar and the Corcovado -  over a shinning sun (summer for all) and a guitar in the foreground, the instrument that was at the forefront of Bossa Nova's creation.

Brasil's Biblioteca Postal (Postal Library) which is integrated into the country's Postal Museum was created in Rio de Janeiro in 1888, but is now located in Brasilia, since 1980.

Celebrating the 130th anniversary of the institution, a 1,55 Reais stamp was issued on 04May2018, illustrated with symbols of postal activity, like letterboxes, envelopes, postmark, rubber stamp…

As usual with Luis' letters, the postmark hails from São Paulo's central Post Office.

POSTCARD N.230 -  USA

Postcard sent on the 19th May; received on the 26th May 2026

Postcard image:  Old Mission Santa Barbara, California

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Ravi sent me another card from his US journey. This time from Santa Barbara., in the State of California. Bohomȧ  sthoothi, Ravi!

From 1769 to 1821 what is now the State of California was colonised by the Kingdom of Spain, a situation that come to an end when Mexico became independent and took control over the territory which it would cede to the United States in 1848 by the end of the Mexican-American war.

Spain established in what was then known as Alta California, a total of 21 Missions through which the European coloniser sought to convert Natives to Catholicism and to exploit them as workforce for the upholding of the Spanish colonial economy.

The tenth of these Missions was established on Santa Barbara's day, December the 4th, 1786, by a Franciscan priest, father Fermin Lasuén, occupying a rise overlooking the Pacific Ocean and the Santa Ynez Mountains,

Santa Barbara Mission, which would become known as the Queen of Missions, due to its architectural beauty  featuring a classic Roman Temple facade, framed by twin bell towers, and the fact that it served as the headquarters for the Franciscan order in Alta California, is to this day run by Franciscan friars and functions as a parish church of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

Ravi used a "Forever Global" self-adhesive stamp issued on 24Jan2025, illustrated with a 1794 Compass Rose that was drawn in 1794 by "...Lucia Wadsworth — the aunt of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow — in her school geography notebook...", according to Wikipedia.

COVER N. 720 - BRASIL

Postmark: Londrina PR 08.05.2026

Posted on the 8th May;  Received on the 26th May 2026

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Always a pleasure to receive mail from Brazil (or Brasil as I rather write it) and this week I got two covers from our brother country. Here's the first one,  Muito Obrigado Luis Carlos!

- Brasil first participated in the Summer Olympic Games in the Games of the VII Olympiad, which took place in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1920.

It was a double first, for this was also the occasion for Brazil winning its first  Olympic Gold Medal, a feat carried out by Lieutenant Guilherme Paraense in the men's 30 metre military pistol contest.

100 hundred years past, Correios do Brasil celebrated the relevant anniversary by issuing, on 24NOV2020) a circular golden 5 reais stamp replicating a gold medal illustrated with a shooting target and laurel leaves, and the legend Centenário da 1ª Medalha de Ouro do Brasil em Jogos Olímpicos (Centenary of the First Gold Medal of Brazil in the Olympic Games).

- The 2024 Mercosul common theme issue highlighted the profession of Chef. Brasil Issued, on 13MAY2024, a 4.3 Reais stamp illustrated with two chefs in the working attire with the legend  Série mercosul: Profissão - Chef (Mercosul Issue - Profession - Chef).

- Union Postale Universelle UPU celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2024 and many were the postal administrations that issued one or more stamps celebrating this fact. Brasil's issue comprised a single 5.95 reais stamp, issued on 09OCT2024, illustrated with the official logo for the celebrations, as was the case with many other issues from other postal administrations all over the world.

Postmark from Londrina, a city with about 580.000 inhabitants in the state of Paraná, in the South of Brasil.

COVER N. 719 - BRITISH OVERSEAS TERRITORIES - GIBRALTAR

Postmark: Gibraltar 06.05.2026

Posted on the 6th May;  Received on the 26th May 2026

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Concorde... a beautiful name for a beautiful aircraft and one that fully echoes the fact that its design and construction transcended boundaries, languages and, most of all, metric systems, no mean feat when maximum tolerances have to be probably kept in millesimal (or even smaller) figures....

This outstanding piece of machinery first took to the air in 1969 while its first commercial flights occurred on 21 January 1976, when at 11h40 F-BVFA for Air France and G-BOAA for British Airways took off, the former  from Paris - Charles de Gaulle bound to Rio de Janeiro and the Latter from London Heathrow bound to Barhein.

This year thus marks the 50th anniversary of these first commercial flights, so receiving a cover with a full set dedicated to this outstanding landmark in aviation history feels like a way of celebrating the feat.

The culprit for this is none other that my friend Eric, the Flying Dutchman, and there must some sort of a celestial bodies alignment right now because yesterday, the day after the cover landed on my letterbox, I had the pleasure of spending an entire afternoon with Eric himself, which we made sure we made the most of, touring around the coast, so that I could show him some of the local sights.

So Muito obrigado Eric pelo belo envelope. Foi um gosto passar a tarde na tua companhia.

As stated above, Concorde's maiden flight took place in 1969. 50 years later, on 20APR2019, Gibraltar Postal Administration issued the set of four stamps on the cover, illustrated with excellent photos that indeed do justice to the aircraft's superior aesthetics,  by way of celebration of this event.

POSTCARD N.229 -  CHINA

Postcard sent on the 9th April; received on the 22th May 2026

Postcard image:  Somewhere in Shangai, I presume....

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Postcrossing meet-ups are popular within the Postcrossing community and many times custom postcards are printed for the occasion. Still I guess minimum quantities apply whenever printing a custom postcard, and so some are always left over. 

Circular economy should also be popular, not only amongst the Postcrossing community, but in the Human Community at large, for by now everybody should have a clear notion that resources are scarce and we keep wasting them as if we did not know better....

So I am more than happy to get a Postcrossing meet-up postcard even though the meet-up it was printed for took place some three years ago. What was once a timely postcard is now an historic one, and this adds a whole new layer of significance to it.  非常感谢 Monica!

What I do regret is not having any information as to where the images on the card were taken, apart that they show a "Spring view of Shangai during floer blossom", so Monica tells me. My take would be a train or metro station, but I really have no idea.

Monica used a very nice single 5 Yuan stamp with an image of some bamboo plants, part of a set of six (20; 30; 40 fēn; 1; 5 yuan) issued on 15JUN1993, dedicated to this icon of Chinese flora.

Postmark quite nice, but my linguistic ignorance steps in....  ah wait... Google translate  Shenzen in the top of the circle and Han Da in the bottom... does it make sense? Well Schenzen is the third largest Chinese city and is located in the province of Guangdong  but Han Da is a mistery to me.... could anyone help?

COVER N. 718 - UNITED KINGDOM

Postmark: Didcot (?) 16.05.2026

Posted on the 16th April ; received on the  22nd May, 2026

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It has been a while since I last got a letter from the UK, so it is good to see one flying into my mail box. Thanks a Lot Faisal.

- The stamp on the top right corner of the envelope is part of a set of  9 1st Class stamps issued on 15MAY2012 dedicated to British fashion designers. on this particular stamp the designer honoured  is Ossie Clark (1942 – 1996) whose creations made him a central name of the 60's fashion in the UK.

- The Black and White 1st class stamp was part of a 12 1st classs stamp set issued on 07JAN2014, themed on Classic Children's TV series.

The series highlighted on this particular stamp is Andy Pandy, an originally Black and White series that was first aired in 1950, with 26 episodes.

It went colour in 1970 with a total of 13 episodes, and in 2002 a revival set of 16 episodes was produced and aired.

The Postmark although hard to read seems to be from Didcot, in South Oxfordshire, England.

POSTCARD N.228 - U.S.A.

Postcard sent on the 9th May; received on the 18th May 2026

Postcard image:  1928 Model T Touring  

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"Any colour as long as it is black...".The famous quote is attributed to Henry Ford who, for production standardisation and  rationalisation reasons elected a fast drying type of paint, that was only available in black, as a way to increase production of his high demand sales champion, the Model T.

This mono colour policy became effective in 1914, and so between 1908, the year when the first model T was produced and 1914, many a Ford T left the factory works in other colours.

This might be the case with the posh 1908 Model T Touring, featured on the postcard that Ravi sent me from The United States.  Bohomȧ  sthoothi, mate.

Out of curiosity I looked up the total production number for Model Ts in all its variants and Wikipedia states a whopping  15 007 003 units, assembled between 1908 and1927...

Ravi used a "Forever Global" self-adhesive stamp issued on 24Jan2025, illustrated with a 1794 Compass Rose that was drawn in 1794 by "...Lucia Wadsworth — the aunt of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow — in her school geography notebook...", according to Wikipedia.

The mechanical postmark was applied in the city of Sacramento, State of California.