COVER N. 780 - SPAIN

Postmark: Correos CTA Valencia 22.10.2026

Posted on the 22nd October;  Received on the 26st October 2026

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What a surprise.... I bet my friend Mr. Postman was as baffled as I when he saw the name on the address, which is so familiar to him that he never fails to deliver the letters even when it is incomplete or wrong....

All I can say is شكراً جزيلاً لكِ يا إيفا, hoping that google translate won't let me down.....

Languages are one of humanity's most precious treasures since they are the elementary fluid that binds together communities at local, regional or national level.

Learning one does not make you automatically a member of the particular community which uses it as the prevalent communication tool between its members, but it allows you to open a window into that same community, through which to observe, understand, compare and interact. 

As such, the more languages you are able to use, the richer you, as a person, are, for they grant you access to the idiom protected strongbox where communities keep their most priceless assets: books, songs, oral tradition.

Still, languages are so powerful a tool that they should invite one's constant scrutiny over their usage and impact, something people tend to forget, so many are the benefits of being privy to them.

Take English, the most obvious case, the modern day Esperanto... 

As the most spoken and published language in the world  it  makes it possible for billions to communicate all across the planet, and I, for one, could not have been happier for having learned it, since, as an example, it allows the posts in this blog to be potentially read by a lot more people than if they were written in Portuguese.

That said, its dominancy and the consequential cultural metastasizing it is prone to impart is something that really annoys me.

Portuguese is an extraordinary rich language (in truth, I believe all languages to be extremely rich, but let me say it this way for the argument's sake). We have time honoured Portuguese words for almost all the English words that I can think of, barring, obviously, neologisms associated with technology, for instance.

So why should anyone use such a utterly ugly word as "empoderado", a direct translation of "empowered", when one can just say "capacitado", which has always been used and means exactly the same? or "massivo", when the norm in Portuguese used to be "maciço", or use interjections such as "Ó meu Deus", the direct translation of  "Oh my God", when the formulation would at maximum be "Meu Deus", but any decent Portuguese would usually say "Ena pá" or "C'um caraças" or any other item of our extremely rich expletive catalogue.

And don't even get me started on the discomfort I feel when looking at supermarkets full of stuff to foist upon avid consumers marvelling at the prospect of celebrating a tradition that has absolutely nothing to do with them....Happy Halloween, everybody.... 

Anyway, I was really chuffed to get this  lovely letter from Eva,  and to learn, thanks to her outstanding knowledge of languages,  than my name in Arabic would transcribe into Portuguese as  Bidru Suaris. I even like the sound of it :-)!

Once again, the stamp Eva chose to use on this particular letter was judiciously chosen so as to be in accordance with its contents.

The B tariff stamp issued on 19APR2024 highlights the popular festivals of Moros y Cristianos - Moors and Christians - which are celebrated in Spain, particularly in the Valencian Community and Andalusia, commemorating the battles during the days of the Reconquista, which ended in the end of the15th century.

The stamp is illustrated with the silhouettes of a castle and a bridge, and the legend Festa Populares Moros y Cristianos and the name of the place where they take place, in Catalan and Spanish:  Alcoi/Alcoy (Alacant/Alicant). I couldn't identify the castle (Barxell, maybe?), but I suppose the bridge is meant to evoke  Alcoi's Pont de San Jordi (San Jorge Bridge), a famous Art Deco local landmark, dated of 1930.

Eva's letter was written in a postcard part of a fund raising campaign for helping homeless children in Morocco. The photo on it showing Bab Ruah, the Gate of the winds, in Tetuan, was taken by a 14 year old photographer, she tells me.

As usual, the stamp carries the postmark of the Automated Treatment Centre of Valencia (CTA Valencia).

COVER N. 779 - SRI LANKA

Postmark: Headquarters P. O.Colombo Mail 13.10.2026

Posted on the 13th October;  Received on the 21st October 2026

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Thanks to Ravi, Sri Lanka ranks as one of the most represented origins in this blog. Here's another of his frequent and very appreciated letters. Bohoma Stuthi, Ravi!

- The London Buddhist Vihara was the first Budhist Monastery to be established outside of the Asian continent.

Founded in 1926 by Anagarika Dharmapala, it has continued, from its inception up to the present day - with the exception of the 1940s due to World War II - the task of disseminating Buddha’s teachings, known as Dhamma, with resident bhikkhus (monks) from Sri Lanka.

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of  London Buddhist Vihara Sri Lanka Post issued the 70 rupee stamp on the cover, graced with  the portrait of the founder of the institution, Anagarika Dharmapala,(1864 - 1933) and an illustration of the Norman Shaw designed building it occupies in Bedford park, Chiswick.

- 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.

Honouring this date, many postal administrations issue yearly or episodically commemorative World Post Day stamps and /or cancellations.

Sri Lanka is one such case and on the cover we have this year's issue on the theme, with a face value of 70 rupee,  issued on the 9th October 2026 illustrated with UPU's official branding and motto for World Post Day:  "One Postal Network, Infinite Possibilities".

The last stamp on the cover was already mentioned on this blog in the previous post:  it is the 70 Rupee stamp issued on 09OCT2026, celebrating World Children's Day, a day of action by children, for children, which takes place on the 20th November.

World Children's day was established by UNICEF and was first celebrated in 1954

Postmark from the Sri Lanka Post Headquarters at Colombo, as usual.

POSTCARD N.257 - SRI LANKA

Postcard sent on the 13th October; received on the 21st October 2026

Postcard image: Pleiades - Open Star Cluster

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Another postcard from the series "Wonders of the Universe".

 

Bohoma Sthuthi, Ravi. 

Quoting again from the card: 

"Also known as the seven sister, this open star cluster (M45) lies in the constellation Taurus. Visible to the naked eye, it has inspired myths across cultures and is among the nearest star clusters to Earth, at about 444 light-years away"

The 50 rupee stamp from the Wonders of the Universe series dated of 25SEP2025, bears a photo of the M45 cluster with the legend Pleiades - Open Star Cluster, 

Further stamps of these series were used on Postcards #252 and #253.

Postage was competed with a 70 Rupee stamp issued on 09OCT2026, celebrating World Children's Day, a day of action by children, for children, which takes place on the 20th November.

World Children's day was established by UNICEF and was first celebrated in 1954

COVER N. 778 - SRI LANKA

Postmark: Headquarters P. O.Colombo Mail 13.10.2026

Posted on the 13th October;  Received on the 21st October 2026

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Some more mail from Ravindra in Sri Lanka, with  nice stamps on the envelopes, as usual. Bohoma Sthuthi, Ravi!

According to a statement on The High Commission of Sri Lanka in Pakistan website, "Relations between Sri Lanka and Pakistan are rooted in decades of close friendship, mutual respect, and strong diplomatic engagement. Since the establishment of formal ties in 1948, both countries have maintained regular high-level exchanges and cooperation across multiple sectors. Pakistan has consistently supported Sri Lanka in international forums, while Sri Lanka has reciprocated with equal diplomatic goodwill, reinforcing a partnership built on trust and shared regional interests."

1948 being the year when Sri Lanka became independent,(although still under British rule) as the Dominion of Ceylon (while Pakistan had reached the same status a year before, in 1947) it can be said that diplomatic relations between the two countries go back to their own establishment as States.

To celebrate the 75th anniversary of  diplomatic relations between the two countries Sri Lanka Post issued on 08OCT2026 the two stamp set (50; 110 Rupee) on the cover, which I presume would be a joint issue, although I cannot find trace of the Pakistani counterpart having been already issued.

The 50 Rupee stamp features a photo of The Rankoth Vehera stupa at Alahana Pirivena, a massive 12th-century monastic university and religious complex located in the ancient city of Polonnaruwa in Sri Lanka, which was awarded World Heritage Status by UNESCO. 

The 110 Rupee stamp is illustrated with a photo of the ruins of Takht-i-Bahi, an ancient Buddhist monastery in Mardan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Being also a  UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is  considered among the most important relics of Buddhism in all of what was once Gandhara.

The Gandhara Civilization existed in what is now Northern Pakistan and Afghanistan from the middle of the 1st millennium BCE to the beginning of the 2nd millennium CE. Although multiple major powers ruled over this area during that time, they all had in common great reverence for Buddhism and the adoption of the Indo Greek artistic tradition which had developed in the region following Alexander's invasions into India. (cf. World History Encyclopedia)

Postmark from the Sri Lanka Post Headquarters at Colombo, as usual.

POSTCARD N.256 - U.S.A.

Posted on 18th July; received on the 19th October 2026

Postcard image: A whale watching tour boat on the Inside Passage, Alaska, gets a close view of a pod of Orca

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A scene I would love to see one day: a pod of orca in the wild. Thanks so much, A.W., I loved the card!

Orca are no strangers to the waters of the Atlantic in the region that I live in. In fact they are frequently seen in between 2 to 5 nautical miles from the beaches where I often go (therefore,  not visible from the beach, unfortunately).

And, lately, they have become a not so welcome sight for sailboat skippers, since this year alone  88 interactions between orcas and boats have been registered in Portugal so far, with some ending up in boats with inoperationl rudders. (Last year there was even a sunken boat, in September).

Marine biologists say that the type of behaviour that orcas are exhibiting around here is not any form of aggression but only a consequence of curiosity and the playful and exploratory character of the beautiful mammals.

Since they are also good learners, the behaviour is rapidly spreading amidst the newer members of the pod, so it is foreseeable that interactions and consequential incidents occur in the future.

As far as I could investigate on the internet, this tipe of behaviour is limited to Iberian Orca and although interactions with boats do take place in Alaska, damage to boats is a very rare occurrence.

A. W. used one of the "Global Forever" triangular self-adhesive stamps celebrating Postcrossing, issued by USPS on 26MAY2026.

The stamp features a motorcyclist holding a postcard. The other three stamps in the issue feature similar images of Diver; an Astronaut and a Cowgirl... postcards can go anywhere....

The stamp was cancelled with a celebratory postmark of this year's California State Fair which ran from  July 17 through August 2, 2026, at the California Exposition & State Fair (Cal Expo) in Sacramento, California, applied at the Expo Centre Post Office.

COVER N. 778 - SPAIN

Postmark: Oficina Postal de Avilés 06.10.2026

Posted on the 6th October;  Received on the 16th October 2026

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Always a treat to receive a cover from the beautiful region of Asturias, on the other side of the border here in the Iberian peninsula, graced with one of the lovely pictorial postmarks that Correos de España has available at some of its main local Post Offices.

Muchísimas Gracias, Angel!

Stamps,  left to right:

- Felipe VI became the King of Spain on 19 June 2014. The first definitive series featuring his portrait was issued on 19JAN2015. The self-adhesive 0,05€ stamp on the cover was the issued on 01FEB2017, this being the only stamp in the series issued on that particular year.

- The United Nations Assembly General of 2011 proclaimed the 30th July as the International Friendship Day.

This fact notwithstanding, this day  is also unofficially celebrated in Spain and in some of the Spanish speaking countries of Latin America and in Brazil slightly earlier, on the 20th July, the day when Neil Armstrong first set a human foot on the moon.

This year, to highlight the date, Correos de España issued on  20JUL2026, the 1€ self-adhesive stamp on the postcard, illustrated  with  a suggestive and self-explaining image and the legend Dia de la Amistad (Frierndship Day).   

I was not familiar with the Lyceum Club Femenino, a Spanish women's association established in November, 1926, aiming at the promotion of the social, cultural, educational and political development of  women.

Throughout its existence the club carried out an intense activity enrolling very relevant figures, both masculine and feminine, of the Spanish political and  cultural scenes of the day and no better proof of its relevance could there be than the fact that the organisation would be disbanded in 1939 in the aftermath of the republican defeat in the civil war, being replaced by a regime oriented women's sports organisation, the Medina clubs.

Celebrating the 100 years of the founding of the Lyceum Club Femenino, Correos issued on 07SEP2016 the A tariff (Domestic 20g) on the cover illustrated with a suggestive image of three women in what seems to be a library, with the legend Centenario del Lyceum Club Femenino. The illustration contains the signature of Clara de Frutos, a Spanish illustrator and Comics author.

The Pictorial Postmark is illustrated with what I believe to be a view of Calle de Rivero (Rivero Street) one of the landmarks of Avilés, with its distinctive arcades.

COVER N. 777 - FRANCE

Postmark: Service des Oblitérations Philatéliques Boulazac Isle Manoir 09.10.2026

Posted on the 9th October;  Received on the 16th October 2026

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What do such disparate contraptions as the sewing machine, the folding umbrella or the hot air balloon have in common?

Once again stamps are happy to provide answers to those of enquiring minds and I have to thank Roland for sending me a cover with a stamp that led me to a possible answer. Un grand Merci, mon ami.

According to la Poste, they all are French inventions; same as the calculator, cinema, soundtracks, radio and the digicode, although I am sure that such an assertion, in some of the cases, must be opened to discussion...

The above mentioned eight inventions were highlighted in a self-adhesive, "Lettre Internationale" stamp set issued as a carnet on 16JUN2025.

One of these stamps, the one featuring the hot air balloon, was used on this particular cover.

It is well known that the principle that governs hot air balloons had been in use long before Pilâtre de Rozier and  Laurent d'Arlandes rose to the sky in Paris, in 1783, aboard an unthetered hot air balloon designed by the Montgolfier brothers, for it is, of course, the same principle that was used in sky lanterns in ancient China and other parts of the Eastern hemisphere.

I wouldn't also be a decent Portuguese if I were not to mention the experiments of my fellow countryman and Jesuit priest Bartolomeu Lourenço de Gusmão who, in 1709, proved the feasibility of the concept of manned hot air ballooning, with a  demonstration of his flying apparatus, which he called Passarola and in which he would actually later actually ascend (and descend, hopefully.... :-)), as stated in an article dated of October 1786, in the London Daily Universal Register.

For the purpose of this article let us though assume that the first fully functional hot air balloons for practical human flight were  those of Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier, who would lend their family name to their invention - the Montgolfière - the subject of the stamp on the cover.

The stamp was cancelled with the pictorial postmark of the Service des Oblitérations Philatéliques, located in Boulazac Isle Manoir, a commune in the Dordogne department of south-western France.