COVER N. 698 - RUSSIA

Postmark: ПОЧТА РОССИИ (Russia Post) - KM 652305 КEMEP. ОБЛ. 28.02.2026

Posted on the 28th February;  Received on the 26th March 2026

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t's been a while since I got mail from Russia, so I was quite pleased to see this large envelope in my letterbox. большое спасибо, Sergej.

I only wished that whenever I get a cover from Russia, I could set aside the awkward feeling that  the State, in abstract, surely not the people, evokes in me, now that 4 years have already passed from the fatidic day when the aggression on Ukraine began.

The world has changed quite a lot since the beginning of this unjustified war, and other absurd and just as or even more cruel aggressions have taken place in the world, with Europe, my Europe, most times, sadly and hypocritically turning a blind eye on them, 

The amount of suffering and hatred that is being generated these days by absolute lunatics driven by imperialistic desiderata,  delusions of grandeur or self-determined religious supremacy is beyond belief, and we all know where that leads to, for hate only generates more hate...

So let's think of letters, those simple well intentioned physical means of communication between people, as olive branches....  white doves are known to land on them!

 

- The 80 Ruble stamp, illustrated with an image of Moscow's Red Square and the legend МОЯ РОССИЯ (My Russia) was issued on 25NOV2025.

- The 50 Ruble stamp was issued on 26AUG2025 in celebration of the the fiftieth anniversary of the town of Kogalym, located in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Tyumen Oblast, in Siberia. The town was established in 1975 as a consequence of the exploitation of oil fields existent in the area.

The Postmark was applied at the town of Topki  in the Kemerovskaya Oblast, in southwestern Siberia.

POSTCARD N.216 - MALAYSIA

Postcard sent on the 6th January; received on the 25th March 2026

Postcard image: Suria KLCC Shopping Mall and Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur

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The Phantom started the year wondering around as it is his custom, and on his ramblings he went to Malaysia, from where he kindly sent me a postcard.

Danke Sehr, Alex!

The twin Petronas Towers were once the tallest building in the world, having been since surpassed by some 20 other buildings, mostly located in Asia.

Still, it continues to rank as the tallest twin towers structure in he world.

Having started to be laid on paper in 1992, construction would begin in March 1993 and be concluded in 1996. The inauguration of the building took place on 31 August 1999.

The stamps used are part of a set of five values (30; 50; 2 x 60 Sen + 5 Ringgit), dated of 05DEC2024, dedicated to Student Organisation uniforms, 

The 30 Sen stamp (on the left) is illustrated with an image of a marching group of young lads, members of the Student Cadets, a  corps specific to the Ministry of Education for primary schools, which aims at fostering discipline and patriotic spirit among the young students.

The 60 Sen stamp is dedicated to the Girl Guide Association of Malaysia, founded in 1916.

The set to which both stamps belong was issued within the framework of  Stamp Week 2024.

On the left of the card the First day postmark of the last issue of 2025, dedicated to rubber research in Malaysia, was also included.

 

Postmark from the “Biro Peminat Setem, Ibu  Fejabat Pos”, which  Google tels me means something like  Philatelic Bureau of the Post Office Headquarters.

POSTCARD N.215 - USA

 Postcard sent on the 10th March; received on the19th March 2026

Postcard image: Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area - Calico Tanks

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Michal sent me a a beautiful postcard from the USA. Děkuji mnohokrát, Michal.

The planet was here before us and, hopefully, will be here after us. We're not owners; just users, fruitioners, but also guardians, keepers. This self-evident and yet strangely not so obvious truth is probably the most important thought that nature in all its grandiosity should impart on the visitor, the passer by, the local inhabitant.

"All things must pass," George Harrison aptly concluded in his most gracious and harmonious way, but some things last way longer than others and inanimate ones, like rocks and stones seem to have an innate ticket to eternity.

Images like the one of the card Michal sent me, always humble me. 

I know I will not be able in my limited life to actually enjoy the majority of the myriad of outstanding natural places that Earth has on offer, but, lucky as I am, compared to a lot of other humans, I have been to a few places which would look just as fine on a postcard.   

I have never been to the United States of America, though. Still, I have visited many of its natural wonders since my childhood days, in the always superior photos on the pages of the National Geographics that my father and later my own self subscribed to, long before the internet, e-mail, 

Or Trump, for that matter....

All things must pass...

Michal used a Forever stamp of the 2024 Flag issue which comprised 4 different designs. The set was issued on 14JUN2024.

Mechanical Postmark from Las Vegas, Nevada, this famous city being but a half an hour drive from the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, where the photo of the postcard was taken.

COVER N. 697 - AUSTRIA

Postmark: Sollenau Zustell basis 2601 09.03.2026

Posted on the 9th March;  Received on the 18th March 2026

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A very musical cover as so rightly befits the origin: Austria.

Vielen Dank, Manfred!

Two absolute landmarks of Vienna, Austria's capita,  that were brought back to life after their sad destruction during World War II: the Burgtheater, Austria's National Theather and Wiener Staatsoper,  Vienna State Opera.

So many such cases in history, one would think that humanity would learn from our errors of the past... sadly,  it is clearly not the case... 

Anyway, the reconstruction of both the Burgtheater, whose construction was ordered by Maria Theresa, the then ruling Habsburg Empress and which was inaugurated in 1741 and  the Staatsoper, inaugurated in 1869 during the ruling of  the Emperor Franz Joseph I and Empress Elisabeth of Austria, went almost hand in hand, it seems, since both facilities were reopened in 1955.

To mark the 50th anniversary of the reopening Austria Post issued on 25OCT2005 the very beautiful souvenir sheet on the cover, comprising two in-taglio printed 0,55€ stamps, the one illustrated with the Burgtheater building coloured sepia and the one portraying the Opera building toned in blue. 

The level of detail included on both illustrations is outstanding and it does pay to have a good look at them under a magnifying glass.

Postage was completed with a 0.55 stamp issued on 18JUN2003 as part of a 4 x 0.55 € stamp set honouring the Rolling Stones, illustrated with the always very energetic Mick Jagger.

Postmark from Sollenau, in the State of Lower Austria, centre west of the country.

COVER N. 696 / POSTCARD 696 - KENYA

Postmark: (?) Kenya 28.10.2024

Posted on the 28 October 2024;  Received on the 17th March 2026

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Talk about snail mail.... in our age of fast and furious these two postal pieces are really exemplary of what written communication used to be when distances had to be braved by other means than the flow of electrons along an optical fibre cable....

Thank you so much, Ravi. I was really pleased to get these, for I don't get that much Kenyan mail in my letterbox and also because the duration of their journey (since it took so long, who knows what they have been through) somehow bestows on them an aura of accomplishment that  fast international priority mail certainly lacks.

And then there's the image on the postcard, that balloon, against  the quintessential stereotype of the African sunset... I almost expect Mery Streep posing as Karen Blixen to wave Hello, from the gondola..😀

According to the date on the postmark, both the letter and the card were posted the same day.

Five hundred and six days, or sixteen months and twenty-one days, that is how long it took for the roughly six thousand, five hundred kilometres, as the bird flies, between Nairobi and Lisboa to be conquered... if only paper could talk.....I am sure that there has to be an interesting story lying there somewhere.....

Several postal administrations celebrated the 150th anniversary of the Birth of Mahatma Gandhi,  who was born on 2 October 1869 in Porbandar, in what was then the Porbandar princely state, now part of the Gujarat State, one of the 28 such administrative divisions of the Republic of India.

The Postal Corporation of Kenya was one such case, having issued, on 02OCT2020. the two stamp set (30 and 110 Kenyan Shillings) Ravi used on the cover 

Of note is the fact that stamps are illustrated  with the same iconic image of Gandhi dressed in his usual very humble clothes - nothing more than a dhoti (a loincloth) and a shawl, which he is holding in his right hand while the left holds a walking stick, known as a lathi.

On the 100 shilling stamp the image is either superimposed or simply colourised on an original black and white photograph of Gandhi leading a crowd, while his figure was isolated for the 20 Shilling stamp.

On the card Ravi also used a stamp from a 3 x 50 Shilling set issued on 10May2018 illustrated with photographs of the last existing three northern white rhinos - Sudan, a male, and Najin and Fatu, females.

At the time of issue though, Sudan had already died, having been euthanized in March 2018,  but the two female rhinos still persist at Ol Pejeta Conservancy  where they are under surveillance 24/7 and it is hoped that a new calf may be born in 2028, following artificial insemination with sperm collected from Sudan.

COVER N. 695 - FRANCE

Postmark: Fête du Timbre Street Art et peintres de rue 69 Oullins-Pierre-Bénite 06.03.2026

Posted on the 6th March;  Received on the 12th March 2026

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Street Art... the street as inspiration, model, atelier, canvas, gallery, arts forum, for the joy of the city and its dwellers and visitors.

Graffiti, murals, tags, video projections...

What started as a sidelined movement form the peripheries has now become fully integrated into the mainstream circuit, with some authors becoming well acknowledged and respected names in the selective world of visual arts.

What better example of this than my own President, who left office just a couple of days ago, having chosen a street artist to do his official portrait for the Gallery of the Presidents of the Portuguese Republic... (and what a great portrait it is... and what a nice gesture Vilhs, the artist, had, refusing to be paid and asking that the money be directed to the acquisition of works by other Portuguese emerging artists....)

Cities have fully realised the potential of street art as promotional vehicle and so street art festivals take place in cities all over the planet. 

And so did stamps: street art has become collectible in philatelic terms, with some postal administrations issuing sets thus themed in the recent past. But the best is yet to come, for I suppose that next year, 2027, the theme will get a fair share of new followers, given that it will be the conceptual basis for the EUROPA issues.

Meanwhile, La Poste, it seems,  chose to be one step ahead and elected street art and street painters  as the theme for this year's Fête du Timbre.

Occurring yearly since 1937, La Fête du Timbre simply aims at promoting Philately in its many guises, making it known to the public at large.

The event is organised by the Fédération Française des Associations Philatéliques, in association with Phil@poste (the La Poste body responsible for stamp printing and issuing) and ADPhile (an association whose objective is to foster knowledge dissemination through stamps and philately).

For the occasion, following up on the Arts de Rue general fête du Timbre theme inaugurated last year with two stamps dedicated to street circus, La Poste issued, on 06MAR2026 the single 3,10 € souvenir sheet and 1,52 € stamp on the cover, the former honouring Street art, and the latter paying homage to street painters.

And, once again, Eric suprised me with a beautiful FDC featuring both issues. Un grand Merci, mon ami.

I was rather pleased to learn that the work chosen to illustrate the souvenir sheet was that of an artist with a strong connection with my own country, since he is of Portuguese descent.

In fact Alexandre Monteiro, or Hopare, as he is known, is,  the son of Portuguese parents and at 36 he is already one of the most recognised names of street art in France.

I have to confess I was not familiar with his production, but upon researching his name on the internet, I realised he has at least two works on display in Lisbon: a sculpture and a mural.

From what I could see on the internet, the portrait of a lady on the stamp is quite illustrative of his style and work. 

Also I happened to go to Lisbon today and his sculpture entitled  “Pareidolie”  was very close to where I was going so I made a small detour:

 

The stamp honouring the street painters and urban sketchers bears a nice polychromatic in-taglio printed view of  a pedestrian zone of a city in France, occupied with several painters, going about their business...

The author of this stamp is André Lavergne who was also responsible for the creation of the First Day Postmark, featuring a grafitted "Street Art", a paint spray can and a brush.

  

POSTCARD N.214 - USA

Postcrossing Postcard sent on ?; received on the 10th March 2026

Postcard image: Ryan NYP "Spirit Of Saint Louis"

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A postcard issued by The Smithsonian Institution with a photograph of one of the most illustrious aircraft in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum: the Ryan NYP (New York to Paris) "Spirit of Saint Louis", in which Charles Lindbergh completed, in 1927, the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight, Between Roosevelt field, Long island, New York,  and Le Bourget, Paris, France. 

The flight took 33 hours and the pilot had to struggle to stay awake during much of it for he had not slept the previous night, so much so that at some point he  barely escaped crashing into the sea due to having fallen momentarily asleep and losing control of the aircraft..

I can't imagine what it would be like to fly in a noisy rattling aircraft without any forward vision other than that provided by a periscope, over the sea, in a cockpit probably not that impervious to exhaust fumes for 33.5 hours, in such animic conditions, but the truth is that Charles Lindbergh did it and with his feat won a irrevocable place in the history of aviation.

Incidentally, the Billy Wilder “Spirit of Saint Louis” film, featuring James Stewart as Lindbergh, gives quite a detailed  account of the flight and the challenges it raised for the pilot. 

Thanks a lot Kira! Unfortunately  the card got a bit wet inside my letterbox, and my attempt at drying it off with a clothes iron only did worse....

The "two ounce USA" stamp illustrated with  several flowers was issued on 22MAR2024 as part of a two stamp set ( the companion stamp is a "Forever USA ") themed on "Floral Greetings"

The blue Forever stamp is part of the two stamp set issued on 114AUG2025 in celebration of the Boston 2026 World Philatelic Exhibition. I wrote about these stamps a propos cover #646.

The card circulated without having been postmarked, so I have no clue as to its place of origin.