COVER N.166 - TUNISIA

Postmark: 2090 Mornag 01-09-2022  
Posted on the 1st September; received on the 28th September 2022
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My second cover from Tunisia flew intercontinental from Mornag, a town not far from Tunis or the blue waters of the Mediterranean, located in one of the most fertile region of the country, known for its two main products, both fit for gods: wine and olive oil.

Thank you so much Mejri, for this cover that, in itself, is a mini-collection of Tunisian stamps!

Stamps, left to right, top to bottom:

Forts of Tunisia was the theme chosen by La Poste Tunisienne (Tunisian Post) for a four stamp set (0,75; 0,9; 1; 3 dinar)  issued on 10SEP2021showcasing some of the country's historic military fortifications.  Kélibia Fort, a byzantine  citadel overlooking the Mediterranean,  dating from the XVI century located in the city of Kélibia, illustrates the 0,75 dinar stamp on the cover.

The 0,25 dinar stamp with a photograph of a painted comber (Serranus scriba), a fish of the Serranidae family, common in the eastern Atlantic, the Mediterranean and the Black sea, is part of a 4 stamp souvenir sheet (0,25; 075; 0,9; 1 dinar) issued on 012JUN2021, celebrating Tunisia's Marine Biology.

On the 24th November 2015, twelve members of the Tunisian Presidential Guard were killed in Tunis when a suicide bomber blew himself up next to a bus that was transporting the military. The bomber was a 26 year old hawker from Tunis and the action was later claimed by the ISIS.

Honoring the fallen, on 24NOV2018, la poste Tunisienne issued a single 0,5 Dinar stamp with the legend "Hommage aus martyrs de la Sécurité Présidentielle" and an image of a squad in action poses.

Amnesty International. Salazar, the Portuguese dictator, without knowing it, helped found it. It seems that having read about two portuguese students who had been sentenced to jail for toasting freedom in public - such was the absurd nature of the regime - was the trigger to setting up, in 1961, an organisation devoted to the worldwide defense of human rights by Peter Benenson, a lawyer.

Over the years many have been the campaigns that have borne the mark of AI, and as it would be expected given the visibility status that the organisation has achieved over the years - Nobel Prize for peace in 1977 - controversy has also rubbed shoulders with it. 

Irrespective of that, I'm sure that a world without Amnesty International and also other smaller NGOs that daily strive to ensure that those that have no voice can still be heard, would be an even easier run for the sad characters that in so many corners of the ellipsoid contribute to make life harder for so many members of our own species.

The Tunisian Section of Amnesty International was founded in 1988.  To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the organization, La Poste Tunisienne, on 12APR2018 issued the 0,11 dinar stamp on my cover, illustrated  with the numeral 30, drawn up in such a way that the 0 evoques both the world and the map of Tunisia, encompassing the Organisation 's logo.

On 26MAR2002, La Poste Tunisienne issued a four stamp set (250; 350; 600; 600 millim) dedicated to archaeological sites and monuments of Tunisia.

The Amphitheatre of Oudna, a Roman dwelling established near Tunis, is the subject of the stamp on my cover and the place where in much later times (2001) "Murder in Mesopotamia", an episode of the famed Poirot TV series based on Agatha Christie's novels, was filmed.

The postmarks are quite difficult to read but I managed to conlude that the cover had been sent from Mornag.

 COVER N.165 - GEORGIA

Postmark: 58 - Georgia - Mtshketa - 33000 - 14.09.2022  
Posted on the 14th September; received on the 21st September 2022
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What a tremendously pleasant surprise! Thank you so much Alexander for your care and for letting me add another country to the Philatelic Atlas.

Just like Ray Charles I've had Georgia on my mind (well  I know, his Georgia is not the same, but one just can' t escape a good pun, right?) for quite a long time and I've been thinking of going there for one of my driving holidays, since I have a feeling that a country  nested between the Caucasus and the Black Sea  has to be full of  good reasons for the nature loving traveller to enjoy the ride.... sometime in the future, now that retirement is getting nearer....

Meanwhile, while I write this blog entry I'll will treat myself to some fitting soundtrack and will let Khatia and Gvantsa Buniatishvili fill the spaces between my words with their beauty and their outstanding playing.

The history of Georgia is full of pages written in blood. Having declared its independence in the midst of  WW1 and the Russian Revolution, it wasn't long before it first became a British protectorate in 1920 only to fall rapidly into Russian domination which eventually led to it becoming one of the republics of the Soviet Union in 1936.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Georgia regained its independence in 1991, but the transition was anything but pacific with coups d'état and general social unrest that lead to a civil war that would last until 1995.

Since then, separatist pressure from the Russian backed South Ossetia and Abecassia  regions who have both declared their independence (which only Russia and a few of its accolades acknowledge), has led to more blood being shed in a short but bloody conflict in 2008, which ended up with Georgia terminating its diplomatic relations with its gigantic neighbour.... (hmmmmm If I was Georgian I would be very concerned about the result of the war in Ukraine....)

Against this dramatic backdrop, I'm sure that many were the names that have ascended to National hero status because armed conflicts, and especially independence wars, are prone to  produce them... what under cold analysis isn't such a good thing after all, because heroes generally ascend to that status in exchange for their most precious possession: life....

Maro Makashvili was one such case. A voluntary nurse with the Georgian forces that opposed the Russian invasion of 1921, she was killed by splinters from a bomb shell.

The first woman to be awarded the order of Georgian National Hero, her memory was also made everlasting in quite a fiitting way: a park, in Tblisi, the capital of Georgia, was named after her.

On 23MAR2021,  Georgian Post also honoured her memory with the souvenir sheet with a 3 + 1 Georgian Lari stamp that Alexander used on the cover.. I can't understand the wording both on the stamp and on the the sheet, but I'd tend to think that the  legend in larger characters  probably reads National Hero Order, since the image presented is that of the Order. 

I also don't know what the extra charge on the stamp is meant for. Can anyone help?

Chess needs no introduction. It is played in every continent and has its own legion of fervent fans. Not I, though. Too mind tasking for my restless nature, I think, even though I've learned its rudiments (now long forgotten)  as a child.

The World Chess Olympiad takes place every two years, being organised by  FIDE, the Fédération Internationale des Échecs - International Chess Federation as a contest between national teams.

The first unofficial tournament having taken place alongtside the Paris Olympic Games of 1924, it is now in its 44th edition.

The 43rd edition took place in Batumi, Georgia, in 2018, from 23 September till 6 October, with the Chinese team winning Gold, the US, Silver and Russia, Bronze.

On 14JUN2018 drawing on attention to the upcoming contest, the Georgian Post issued the very colourful 0,90 Lari stamp on my cover, illustrated with the 43rd Olympiad logo.

COVER N.165 - FRANCE

Postmark: 58 - Corsigny - Nievre 14.09.2022  
Posted on the 14th September; received on the 20th September 2022
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Mr. Postman, my friend, rides a motorcycle these days, but I still remember seeing the CTT (Portuguese Post) or the Portuguese Marconi boletineiros cycling across Lisbon traffic to deliver telegrams and other urgent mail...

They were good, hey had to be.. Lisbon is known as the city of the 7 hills and although none of them is higher that the Col du Tourmalet, it wasn't an easy task, especially considering that they did so in uniform... Marconi even had its own cycling team that I think also competed in the Volta a Portugal (The Portuguese Tour).

Thank you so much Jean-Pierre for this letter embellished with two great stamps (and also thanks for the felines inside they were truly appreciated!)

Le Portet d'Aspin, L'Alpe d'Huez, le Col du Galibier....le Col du Tourmalet....names that are synonymous with overcoming our own human nature just by relentlessly turning round and round two pedals connected to a sprocket wheel that in turn drives a chain that drives another sprocket wheel and makes the body dangling on the two wheeled contraption go forward, little by little, faces tinted with a mascara of pain and resolve...

That's cycling at its best... that's the classic of the classics, the Tour the France, that's the climb of the Tourmalet, the high mountain peak that has featured the most times on the yearly menu of the Tour, 83 times, to be precise, ever since the first time it was included in the famous race, in 1910.

Located in the Central French  Pyrenees, in  the Hautes-Pyrénées department  the ascent to the top implies17,2 km with a medium 7,4% slope on the West bank or 18.8 km on the East side, its slope also averaging 7.4%... not for little children...

I took a look at the list of winners at the top of the Col and lo and behold, amidst the familiar names that one will always associate with the epic times of cycling, (long before carbon fibre frames and wheel rims and complex gear mechanisms that make the high competition bicycle today a rocket science issue), such as Raymond Poulidor, Loucien Van Impe, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Thévenet (strangely could not find Jaques Anquetil ) I found the name of a fellow countrymen that I confess I had never heard of, the hero of my childhood days having been Joaquim Agostinho: José Manuel Ribeiro da Silva (1935 – 1958... damn!... did he depart early.. a  motorbike accident being the culprit). 

Ribeiro da Silva  won at the Col in 1957, a good year for him since he also won the Volta a Portugal (the Portuguese Tour) a feat he had already accomplished in 1955.

Celebrating the mythical Col du Tourmalet, on 11JUL 2022, La Poste issued the beautiful 1,16€ stamp that was used on my cover, featuring a view of the road to the mountain, which can be seen on the background, with a reckless cyclist in the foreground, starting the difficult ascent.

La dune du Pilat is the highest moving dune in Europe, and it is located at the entrance of the Arcachon bay, in the Biscay gulf.

With a total area of 87 hectares and extending over a total length of, 2,7 Km, being made of some 60,000,000 m³ of wind blown sand, its height above sea level was 106,6 m, in 2018. Since it is always growing, it must be a bit higher by now.

The dune is a famous tourist attraction of the region, especially at sunset when flocks of  sun worshipers climb the slope to watch the famed and well promoted Dune du Pilat sunset....

Guess who one of those tourists was in 2014 (man how time flies....) and I have proof of it...

Not a bad place at all to watch the sun go down...

Whenever I watch a sunset, I remember Richard Harris' words in his fabulous "Slides" song: "sunset, another sunset, I know it looks indistinguishable from the last, but I remember the difference".

On 19SEP2005, La Poste issued a set of  10 stamps encased in a minisheet as issue nº 6 of the "La France a Voir - Portraits de Régions" series,  of which the beautiful Dune du Pilat stamp on my cover was a part.

Unfortunately, the very nice cover was again the victim of the dreaded double postmarking with a machine postmark being applied over the already manually postmarked stamps, what only creates "postmark noise" and graphic confusion... sad!

Operation TAAF 

a progress report on what happened to a souvenir sheet that was broken into 5 parts

Episode I - Iles Éparses 

Episode II - Crozet

Episode III - Iles Australes - St. Paul et Amsterdam

Episode IV - Iles Australes -  Kerguelen - Cover received on 14September 2022

Four down, one to go!

The day after I entered the  St. Paul and Amsterdam entry into my blog, I received the cover that journeyed from  the Island of Grande Terre, the largest in the Kerguelen archipelago, another of the territories that integrate the TAAF.

The archipelago, discovered in 1777 by  a French Naval Officer, Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen-Trémarec, from whom they got their name, is located in the Indian Ocean more or less midway between Africa and  Australia and  I believe it to be France's second southernmost territory, right after Terre Adélie.

The islands are totally devoid of human presence, but for the  staff of  Port aux Français, a permanent scientific base  and a Satellite tracking station, close to it in Grande Terre., also known as Desolation island (a quite graphic toponym...) . throughout the year anything from 45 to 100 people might be stationed in Port aux Français, supplies being brought in by ship, given that there is no landing strip available.

Similarly to Crozet and St. Paul et Amsterdam, Kerguelen also has its very interesting blog full of inside information on the islands and the day to day aspects of life and work of the members of the Scientific missions that occupy the Port aux Français Base. 

 

Further to the "Official" Port Aux Français Postmark, and the usual Coodinates stamp, M. le Gérant Postal included two other beautiful stamps.

This one I believe is the seal of  the telecom team of Mission 72, their motto being Lavoisier's famed Law: Nothing is lost, Nothing is created, everything is transformed. The image of an albatross with a walkie-takie dangling from its head and a small rubber stamp are the only drawings I can understand although there are a couple more items in the seal. The seal is handsigned by the members of the team, MM. Boris (le Gérant Postal, whom I thank for his attention and care), Jean-Sébastien and Axel, according to a photo in the aforementioned Kerguelen blog.

The other seal is probably the seal of Mission 72, mimicking a playing card with a penguin, of which there must be plenty on the islands...

The small rectangular stamp wirh the coordinates reads: 

COVER N.164 - UK

Postmark: Mount Pleasant 12SP22  
Posted on the 12th Septemberf; received on the 15th September 2022
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A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away....

I still remember how impressed I was by the words scrolling in perspective on the screen to a vanishing point  somewhere in the infinite space.. who wasn't? That and the first time I went to a Theatre  - good old Tivoli, that is still used for performing arts but not for movies anymore, IIRC,- featuring the then novel Dolby stereo system that made the walls tremble and the chairs wobble. 

All this years after, people are still marvelled by the universe created by George Lucas and his team, which has naturally expanded, as has the real one, to absorb all the technical developments that have since appeared in the field of special effects, to continue to produce sequels and prequels and spin-offs and musicals and books and DVDs all sort of merchandise one could think of. 

George Lucas has really created a new parallel world, not in a galaxy far, far away, though... but right across the door, with its centre in the San Francisco constellation.....

and from this new world endless hours of joy and enjoyment would radiate, as if an inverted black hole would pulsate at its centre, not only because of Star Wars, but also because of the other phenomenon that was therein generated and which had an adventurous archaeology professor named Indiana Jones at its fulcrum (curiously enough, as we all know, majestically played by the same guy who drove the augustly decadent Millennium Falcon in the Star Wars Saga).

Thank you so much Simon, for a beautiful cover with an unbeatable frieze of heroes.. I can't understand C3PO and R2D2 having being left out, though. 😀

The First film of the Star Wars Saga premiered in 1977. Since then eight more, appearing in an order more consonant with commercial interest than with chronologic logic (no, I do not stutter…) have filled movie theatres around the world with hosts of fans, although these days many would probably commit the sacrilege of watching the film on the minimal screens of a smartphone or a tablet, at most....

Aside thought: Can someone imagine watching something like... say.... Lawrence of Arabia, on a smartphone, probably munching popcorn at the same time ....?

In 2015 "The force awakens", the first part of the trilogy that sequels the original trilogy (confused?)  was distributed for movie theatres around the world. With the Star wars craze thus rekindled, Royal Mail thought it would be a good commercial idea to launch a stamp emission dedicated to the theme and so on 10OCT2015, two strips with six se-tenant 1st class stamps were issued, one of them gracing the top of my cover.

Lef t to right we have The villain Darth Vader, The sage Yoda, who was the mentor of Obi-Wan Knobi, Obi-Wan himself, a Stormtrupper (the SS of the sidereal space). Han Solo (the mighty "driver" of the Millennium Falcon) and Rey, a she Jedi mentored by none other than Luke Skywalker himself.

The other strip includes stamps with the mugshot of Princess Leia, The Emperor, Luke Skywalker, Boba Fett, Finn and Kylo Ren.

The postmark on the stamps tells us that the letter was processed via the Mount Pleasant mail Centre,  London's central mail central.

Operation TAAF 

a progress report on what happened to a souvenir sheet that was broken into 5 parts

Episode I - Iles Éparses 

Episode II - Crozet

Episode III - Iles Australes - Cover received 13SEP22

Another piece of the souvenir sheet arrived yesterday... I'm making good progress! 😃

I confess that before I had started to prepare Operation TAFF, I had never heard of the Iles Australes - St. Paul et Amsterdam, so, as usual I went searching for information and what I always  suspect, seems to once again be true: it was a fellow countryman who first set his eyes on the tiny island of St. Paul, in 1559. The crew of the Nau S. Paulo, commanded by Rui Melo da Câmara, discovered it while on their way to India, on one of the many such ventures that took place after Vasco da Gama had proved the possibility of navigating from Lisbon to India in 1498.

Amsterdam was discovered by Elcano during the circumnavigation that Magellan started in 1519 and he finished  in 1522, exactly 500 years ago, but was christened after the name of the ship of a Dutch sailor - Anthony van Diemen - who sighted it in 1633 and gave it the name of his vessel - Nieuw Amsterdam.

The French took possession of the two Islands in 1843 and from then on, the two extinct Volcanoes erupting from the Indian Ocean have remained French territory, although both islands are only inhabited by scientists - 25 to 50 at most - who stay mostly at the  Martin de Viviès Base, in the Island of Amsterdam, although short study stays can also be made at St.Paul.

These islands are important biodiversity sanctuaries and harbour substantial colonies of seabirds and seals.

Monsieur  le Gérant Postale of the St.Paul and Amsterdam Islands, M. Christophe Bouchet, whom I most sincerely thank for his attention and care, was very generous with his stamps on my cover which took exactly 8 moths on its round trip from the very same desk I'm typing on right now, the return leg having started on the 18th March, and finished yesterday, that is to say  about a week short of a six month journey.

On the front of the cover we have no less that 4 different stamps: the regular Martin de Viviès - St. Paul - Ams. TAAF postmark, dated of 18-03-2022, plus The  stamp of Mission 73, comprising the outline of Amsterdam Island with what looks like an albatross, plus a western rockhoper penguin and a sea lion.

The second large stamp on the front of the cover is what I presume to be the stamp of the Mission's Doctor - Dr. Morgane David-Lefèvre - even though I could not find any mention to her  in the Amsterdam Blog (again, a very interesting resource). It comprises the outline of the Island and an albatross with a red cross badge on the wing.

and, as usual with TAAF covers the coordinates for the place  - Martin de Viviès - Long. 77º 32E; Lat. 37º 41S.

Monsieur le Gerent Postal also applied to large stamps on the back of the cover plus a sticker.

Left to right we have  a stamp of the local chapel - Notre Dame de l'Océan  (Our lady of the Ocean) with the outline of the island and the image of the chapel building;

A sticker evocative of the 500th anniversary of the discovery of Amsterdam Island, that is taking place this year;

and finally the Gérant Postal’s own "Tampon" with a western rockhoper penguin, an orca, a sea lion and M. le Gérant own signature.

All in all, a truly interesting addition to my collection. Again, thank you so much, M. le Gérant Postal des Illes de St. Paul et Amsterdam!

POSTCARD N.89 - RUSSIA

Postcrossing postcard sent on the 25th August inside cover #163, received on the 9th September 2022

Postcard image: Yuri Gagarin
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I was born  in 1960, so I can say that my infancy and that of the space race were somehow contemporary .

I have already written here about the National Geographic magazines my father signed, so the likes of John Glenn, Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom and Neil Armstrong, to mention but a few of the more sounding names, were faces that, even though I was still a child, were no strangers to me, the curious little prick I was.

All things Soviet would not be easily distributed in the Portugal of that era, locked in a stupid monolithic and cruel fascistoid dictatorship  as senseless and persecutory as  any of the sad regimes of the Soviet block countries. But the space race was such an huge  thing in its heyday that Sputnik, Laika and most of all, Yuri Gagarin, would also be household names for those infants like me that would marvel at the black and white newspaper photos of rockets lifting off Cape Canaveral…no images of Baikonour, then, and TV... 

train of thought...

When I was a kid I  only had access to TV at home for 3 years from 65 to 68, because then I went to live in the Azores, where no such luxury was available. In fact, I would only watch TV again upon my return to the mainland in 73...

Lucky me, I had the best youth years a child can get: a bicycle, a fishing rod, a spear fishing gun... I was literally King of the World, long before DiCaprio...

back  to our regularly scheduled program:

Yuri Gagarin was, of course, the first man to be sent to space. This having happened in 1961, I, small wonder, couldn’t not even be bothered with it, but when he unfortunately died in an accident while flying a Mig-15, in 1968, I was already aware of his place in the history of space exploration and he too, as well as Valentina Tereshkova (whom I remember visiting my country in 1975) were names that I revered.

Knowing my interest in all things that fly, be it animals, aircraft or men,  Julia sent me, a very nice card with a photo of a young Yuri Gagarin and a varnished 60 superimposed  on it, commemorative of the 60th anniversary of his famous flight, which took place on the 12th April 1961.

Curiously, CTT, the Portuguese Postal Service, had also issued last year a pre-stamped postcard commemorating Gagarin's flight, thus I now have to very nice postcards to present side by side.

 COVER N.163 - RUSSIA

Postmark: ПОЧТА РОССИИ - КАЛУГА ПОЧТАМТ УООПО 248099 (Russian Post - Kaluga Post Office 248099) 
Posted on the 25 August; received on the 97th September 2022
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Another one of Julia's very nice covers always complemented with a few interesting stamps. Thank you so much again Julia!

Dmitry Borisovich Glinka was another of the Russian air aces of WW2 who scored a total of 50 air victories, for which he was twice awarded the title of hero of the Soviet Union, and who survived to tell the tale.

Born in 1917 in Kryvyi Rih, today the 6th largest Ukranian city, he joined the military in 1937, after learning to fly at the at the Kryvyi Rih aeroclub, also in present day Ukraine.

Most of his air victories were achieved in an American aircraft, the P-39 Aircobra, supplied to the Soviet Union by the US, under Roosevelt's lend- lease programme.

One cannot escape the irony of thinking that if it was today, he would probably  be fighting against those he fought for... possibly on American supplied aircraft....

Having left the military in 1960, Glinka would employ his skills and knowledge in the cause of civil aviation, both as a pilot and instructor. He died in 1979.

Dmitri Glinka was honoured by the Russian Post more than once with special covers. The one Julia kindly sent me was issued in 2017 and it features Glinka's photograph with his P-39 Airacobra in the background and his two "Hero of the Soviet Union" decorations right before his effigy.

The envelope is self-stamped with an imprinted Tariff A (Domestic up to 30g) stamp mark

Stamps, left to right:

According to an entry on Arctic cooperation and politics in Wikipedia, "In 2007, Russia planted a flag on the Arctic Ocean seafloor beneath the North Pole while performing research to substantiate its claim to an extended continental shelf." 

The fact is clearly highlighted by the 8 Rubble stamp on my cover, issued on 07DEC2007 as part of a se-tenant two even priced stamp set and a label, themed on Arctic Exploration. The legend reads СЕВЕРНЬІЙ ПОЛЮС ГЛУБИНА 4300 m or NORTH POLE DEPTH 4300 m.

5 Rubble stamp celebrating the centenary of birth of Dmitry Likhachov (1906-1999) a Russian scholar and a survivor of the Gulag, considered to have been in his life the  foremost authority in Old Russian and its literature.

He was detained and exiled in a concentration camp for having questioned the 1918 soviet reform of the Russian orthography, ... Sigh....how come this be...? Portuguese, as we write it today, was the subject of a useless and senseless orthographic revision that occurred in 1990. I have made fun of it many times... just to think of it....

On 11MAY2021, the Russian Post issued a minisheet with four 24 Rubble stamps dedicated to the Technological Achievements of Russia. The stamps feature an autonomous  Robot, a satellite navigation system, a combat robot and an autonomous submarine.

Fyodor (Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research) the robot, the subject of the stamp on the cover, was the first autonomous robot to have been sent to the international space station where he accomplished several tasks, proving its worth as a viable technological aid.

The robot reputation would notwithstanding be forever stained by a video of him shooting a live gun, what had some consequences in the development of the project, with a parts supplier abandoning it.

Surely there could be better things for Fyodor to do than to shoot live ammunition (or any ammunition, for that matter), right?

COVER N.162 - GIBRALTAR

Postmark: Royal Gibraltar Post Office Main Office 25.AUG.2022 
Posted on 25th August; received on the 9th September 2022
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I've wrote here of how I was surprised by a cover from Eric coming from the Faroe Islands, after I got another one from him from Albania; well, he continues to surprise me, this time with a beautiful cover, full of exciting goodies, from the only the place I know that has a traffic light on the shoulder of the airport runway....the Rock that guards the straight, the only place in  Europe with wild monkeys: Gibraltar. 

Thank you so much, Eric. I truly appreciated it. The more so since I can now tick another box in the list of stamp emitting countries and territories. 

Gibraltar is one of those places that makes you wonder... not only for the seemingly eternal geopolitical issues that gravitate around the rocky promontory, which in the wake of Brexit will at some point rekindle,  but also because  of its geonatural uniqueness, of which the celebrated monkeys or the fact that it is one of the world's hot spots for birdwatchers, due to its startegic location as an open air auditorium to watch the great bird migrations between Africa and Europe, are probably the most famous features.

Gibraltar is also the place, I found, where machines work for themselves:  I've been to the rock many years ago, when my girls were still pre-teens.Marta, the youngest of the two,  was passing by a Coca-cola vending machine and for some reason patted it. Maybe because the machine recognised her as a gentle and kind soul, maybe because someone had forgotten to hit the button after dropping the coin in, maybe (as I firmly believe) because, as in  the Moody Blues Album title "Every good boy - or girl, I add - deserves favour - the machine  responded to Marta’s act of affection with some internal noises that caught our attention and lo and behold.... on the retrieving drawer an ice cold can of Cola suddenly materialised.

The irony of it was that Marta didn't like Coca-Cola, but it was the middle of August, hot as hell, so the remaining three of us were very happy to share this gift from....above?  😀

Stamps, left to right:

On  14SEP2013, Gibraltar Post issued a six stamp set, all with a face value of 42 pence,  dedicated to endangered animal species.

On my cover we can see two of these stamps, featuring the Chinese Alligator (Alligator sinensis)....

With a distribution that is today restricted to the province of Anhui, as well as possibly the provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, in China, the species is classified by the IUCN as critically endangered, its population in the wild numbering some 300 individuals as of 2017.

... and the Leatherback Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), 

This amazing creature is distributed along all the oceans of the world which it constantly roams through. I once witnessed  just etched little leatherbacks and loggerheads (Caretta caretta) being taken by the bucketful at night, as close to the sea line as possible to enhance their chances of survival, on a beach in the Yucatan peninsula, in Mexico. I was allowed to take one of the leatherbacks out of the bucket and take it myself to lay it on the sand and watch the little thing as she paddled her way through the sand into the water. Survival rate is very low, only 1 in 1,000 reaches adulthood, but who knows, she might be swimming across the ocean, as I type...

the last stamp on the cover is part of the 1983 EUROPA issue, themed on Inventions. Gibraltar, on 21MAY1983, issued two stamps (16p and 19p) the lower value one, on my cover, depicting St. George's Wall, a complex of caverns excavated on the rock to serve as bunkers for coastal defence batteries, and the 19p stamp, illustrated with the water catchments created on the rock face to capture rainwater since there is no phreatic or any other source of inland water on the promontory.

Operation TAAF 

a progress report on what happened to a souvenir sheet that was broken into 5 parts

Episode I - Iles Éparses 

Episode II - Crozet - cover received 09SEP22

"Surprise, surprise....".seemed to say my letterbox when I opened it today upon arriving from another day at the office.

"Now, look who's here..." said I to myself, while a large grin took hold of my lips.

Envelope #2 of the 5 valiant Operation TAAF letters had arrived. On it, the Stamp pertaining to "Les Iles Australes" on the piece of the TAFF Souvenir sheet that I'm trying to recomplete again shone with a carefuly applied cancelation on its lower left corner that reads Alfred Faure Crozet TAAF and the date of expedition: 10-5-2022.

Computation completed, the letter  took 4 months on the inward journey and three more months on the return leg, for a  total travel time of  7 months. 

Besides the regular postmark, the cover is embelished with 3 more "tampons", two of them being particularly nice: that of Monsieur le Gérant Postal de la Mission 59, David Gasnier, (whom I got the chance to put a face to a name by browsing the immensely interesting blog of the Crozet District ) which includes the image of an orca pushing a letter with its mouth  over the contour of the Possession Island with a radio anthena mast over the location of the Alfred Fauré station.

And that of Mission 59 itself, that comprises the outline of the Island divied in 4 sectors by a wind rose, each sector carrying an little icon related to the mission, I presume: an albatros; the altimetric contour of the island, pensguins and the base facilities.

the third tampon is the litlle square with the coordinates of the base: Long. 51º 52 E; Lat. 46º 26 S.

all in all a beautiful addition to the colection.

Mission 60 is now starting so I guess it is time to start preparing Operation TAFF 2.0.

COVER N.161 - POLAND

Postmark: Grodkow 26.08.2022 
Posted on 16th August; received on the 2nd September 2022
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Large stamps call for large covers, and that's what  my friend, Mr. Postman, dropped into my letterbox: a C5 envelope that started its journey in Grodkow, a city in the Southwest of Poland, in the Upper Silesia region, with 8.4 thousand inhabitants as of 2021.

Every time I get a letter from somewhere I do a little spying through my Google spy glasses to see what that somewhere looks like and this only fosters my yearning for travelling...  how could it be different with a town that boasts such a nice Town Hall as I've learned Godkow does?  

I have never been to Poland,(sigh....) but I'm sure that in a not so far future I will have ticked the box. In fact, I have never been to a lot of places even if I have already been to a whole bunch of them.

Traveling is the cinematic expression of reading, both are fundamental learning tools but traveling has the added bonus of calling on the active participation of all of our senses, while reading is much more  an intellectual activity that relies on a direct almost passive channel between the eyes and the brain (watching TV or a movie just takes the process one step further on the passiveness scale...).

Reading is also much easier than travelling from a logistic point of view for obvious reasons and most of the times, we, regular standard issue human beings, do not have the time, the resources or the opportunity to travel as much as we would like, so we find ways to fill in the void.

And that's what a cover from somewhere you have never been to, falling into one's letterbox, exactly does! 

Thank you so much Piotr! Enquiring into the histories and sights disclosed by looking deep into the centre of the stamps on the covers I receive, makes me a richer person ... maybe one day I'll be a  stampillionaire....😀

Stamps, left to right; top to bottom:

The Chinese new year seems to be a highly collectible theme for philatelists, judging from the number  postal administrations all over the world that issue annual emissions dedicated to the theme.

Polish Post (Poczta Polska) is one such case. 

The 3.30 Zloty stamp dedicated to the year of the bull was issued on 26FEB 2021. 

Its 2022 counterpart, a 4 Zloty (ah... inflation...inflation...)  stamp dedicated to the year of the tiger, was issued on 01FEB2022.

Both stamps feature the image of the animal of the year and the legend "Chinese zodiak signs" followed by the identification of the sign of the year: Year of the Buffalo and Year of the Tiger, respectively.

Józef Mackiewicz (1902 – 1985) was a Polish writer whose life crossed through the troubled history of Poland in the 20th century, from its regaining its independence by the end of  WW1 to its loosing it again at the hands of the Germans in the aftermath of the infamous Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, through it becoming a satellite country of the Soviet Union following the end of the WW2 hostilities.

A staunch anti-communist he exiled himself in 1945 first to Rome and then to Munich, where he would see his last days.

According to the references I consulted, his literary production is permeated by realistic accounts of a period in history that was not the finest hour for mankind, be it the hardships of life under soviet occupation or the controversial bombing of Dresden in the late stages of WW2.

Honouring  the 120th anniversary of his birth, Poczta Polska on 01APR2022 issued the 30  Polish grosza commemorative stamp that can be seen on my cover.

At a time when the importance of vaccines could not be more evident, although ironically some beneficiaries of the quantum leap in longevity that vaccines have allowed the human race still care to question it, it is highly adequate that Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) be remembered.

Celebrating the bicentennial of the birth the man who was at the fulcrum of the development of  vaccines to rabies and anthrax, two very democratic and effective killers, and whose works paved the way for the development of so many other vaccines we now enjoy the benefits of, Poczta Polska issued on 07MAR2022 a 30  grosza commemorative stamp with the effigy of Pasteur superimposed on a French Flag. Small images of a syringe and a laboratory flask point us to his achievements in the fields of microbiology and vaccine development.

The "Independent Self-governing Trade Union of Individual Farmers "Solidarity" " was established in 1980 as part of the historic "Solidarity" movement led by Lech Wałęsa  that would eventually see the transition of Poland from the Soviet Union sphere of influence into the blue and yellow starred flag of the EU.

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the official creation of this organisation, Polska Poczta Posta, on 12MAY2021, issued the 5 groza stamp of which a pair can be seen on my cover.

The stamp contains the highly symbolic image of a bread loaf and the legend "40. rocznica rejestracij NSZZ Rolników Indivydualnich "Solidarnośc"", which translates into "40th anniversary of the registration of the Individual Farmers' Union "Solidarnośc"" (I'm so glad I have access to deepl.com.... 😀!)

The Postmark  tells us that the cover was mailed from Godkow.

COVER N.160 - LATVIA

Postmark: Pasta Centrs "SANKTA" 26.08.2022 LV - 1051
Posted on 16th August; received on the 2nd September 2022
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Another Baltic State joins the list, and it does it in absolute class and style, with this beautiful and very carefully composed cover sent from Latvia. Thank you so much Vera!

I love wild flowers! Even if I am no botanic, it gives me great pleasure to observe and photograph wildflowers for the sheer beauty of them. How many times do we pass by something as common and unassuming as, say, a dandelion flower and care not to look at it and discover that in reality it is not a flower but a huge bunch of them growing together in a  most perfect geometric form radiating from the centre, and that in its apparent fragility, they are strongly bound together creating the little yellow marvel in front of one's eyes?

Or the frailty of poppies which can withstand the constant push and pull of the wind, but if one tries to collect one chances are that in a matter of seconds all the petals will come lose..

And wild Gladiola .. the touch of colour they imprint on the yellowish cereal fields, with their beautiful rosy flowers and their bright green leaves.... the magic touch of spring, they are!  We have three  species here in Portugal, two of them very similar - Gladiolus italicus and Gladiolus illyricus - and  Gladiolus undulatus.

All this à propos the main star of the lovely cover  Vera sent me:

On 02JUL2021, Latvia Post (Latvijas Pasts) issued this very beautiful 1,27€ stamp  featuring a pretty detailed illustration of a Gladiolus imbricatus, a cousin of the species we have here that can be found in Central and East Europe, and also in the countries of  the Mediterranean Sea, Caucasus and Western Siberia.

Besides the image of the plant, the logo of the Latvian Fund for Nature (Latvijas Dabas Fonds) - a kingfisher - a non-governmental organisation founded in 199, dedicated to the preservation of biological diversity in Latvia, is included on the left bottom corner of the stamp.

The cover also includes two pairs of stamps from a definitive series themed on  flowers  started in 2014. The stamps included are the 2022 edition of the  0,01 € stamp,  featuring the common Daisy (Bellis perenis) and the 2017 edition of the 0,10€, featuring a Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis).

Vera decorated the envelope with a very nice botanical illustration of the main flower on the cover, the Gladiolus imbricatus, or as she says, the Jumstiņu Gladiola.

COVER N.159 -  MOROCCO

Postmark: fdc: Tétouan 11.07.2022 Villes Antiques de Méditerranée - Barid Al-Maghrib / Meknes C.D. 16.08.2022
Posted on 16th August; received on the 29th August 2022
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My country list has been increasing steadily, lately. I couldn't be happier!

Thank you so much Pierre for letting me tick another square in my  Philatelic Atlas, with this beautiful cover from across the straight of Gibraltar!

Tétouan, an ancient city in the north of Morocco whose ancient quarters, the medina, is included in the list of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, for its unparalleled conservation status which highlights the Andalusian influence brought about by the refugees fleeing the "Reconquista"  later increased in number by the Muslims expelled from Spain by Felipe III of Spain (Filipe II of Portugal) who throughout the years rebuilt it after we, the portuguese 😞 raised the ancient city to the ground in 1437.

Today Tétouan is a city of cultural relevance being part of the  UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN), and an important university centre, these two realities being obviously interrelated, given that knowledge fosters creativity and vice-versa.

The Postal Union of the Mediterranean congregates  postal operators of the European and Mediterranean region. Established in Rome in 2011 by 14 Postal Operators it has been steadily growing to include 23 members, at present. 

Each year, a common theme is selected for a  joint emission by all members of the organisation, much like the famed EUROPA emissions, each postal administration  being absolutely free to design their own stamps, provided they follow the adopted theme. 

For some reason that I could not identify, the theme for 2022 is two fold: Maritime Archaeology or Antique Cities of Mediterranean. This, as far as I know, happens for the first time, and is probably a one off stunt for next year's theme is already chosen and has no double option. I'd also bet some money on the fact that the disruptures brought about by the Publich health situation we all are familiar with, had something to do with it.

The Postal Operator of the  Kingdom of Morroco Barid Al-Maghrib - Poste Maroc elected Tétouan as the city to promote under this year's  common Euromed Theme and so the beautiful 9 dinar stamp featuring a view of the Al-Jalaa public Square with the Zaouiya Qadiriya, a religious building,  was issued on 11JUL2022.

The FDC is embelished with what I suspect is a view of the medina, with the characteristic white walls (to ward off the heat) and blue doors and window shutters (to ward off the mosquitoes).

COVER N.158 -  KAZAKHSTAN

Postmark: Kasapost 09.08.22
Posted on 9th August; received on the 22th August 2022
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Another country to add to the list, Great! Thank you so much Marat, the more so since I can't help noticing that you went the extra mile trying to only include stamps related to my preferences. 

I was writing about the silk road the other day à propos the nice cover I got from China and now it looks like I'm doing some sort of air mail silk road journey... so I'll drop by the caravanserai to rest and write a few lines about the nice stamps used to post this nice cover to Portugal.

Stamps left to right:

On 24SEP2021, Kazpost issued a 4 four stamp definitive series dedicated to endangered species - Artiodactyls of the Red Book of Kazakhstan, comprising 5, 20, 200 Kazakhstani teńge and Tariff A values. 

The 20 teńge stamp on the cover is illustrated with a drawing of an Argali (Ovis ammon karelini) the largest species of wild sheep, native to the  highlands of western East Asia, the Himalayas, Tibet, and the Altai Mountains. It is classified as Near Threatened in the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species, particularly because it is a top target for poachers and hunters looking for an impressive trophy....

The preceeding definitive series of 2020 also themed on endangered species of Kazakhstan, issued on 12MAY2020  was dedicated to fishes and it included six values: 5,10, 20,60, 200 teńge and Tariff A. The 20 teńge stamp on the cover depicted a Siberian taimen (Hucho taimen), also known as the Siberian giant trout or Siberian salmon, that is distributed across areas of Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and China. 

The Siberian taimen is classified as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species.

On the very last day of 2002 31DEC2002, Kazpost issued a two stamp set themed on aircraft, with 20 and 40 teńge denominations depicting an Ilyushin Il-86 and a the ill fated Tupolev Tu-144.

The Il-86 was the first wide-body aircraft produced by the then Soviet Union and the second such category aircraft to be propelled by 4 engines, after the Boeing B-747. It first flew in 1976. As usual it was used by the airlines of countries within the former soviet union sphere of influence, including  the flag carrier of Kazakhstan in its two iterations as Kazakhstan Airlines and Air Kazakhstan, although, at present, no civil operator uses the type, of which 3 aircraft continued to fly in 2020 with the Russian Air Force.

The Tupolev TU-144 was the Soviet Union's counterpart to the Concorde, and its maiden flight took place on the very last day of 1968, some two months before the Anglo-French design.

It was used commercially on the Moscow / Alma-Ata (Kazakhstan) route for only 55 flights after which the project was abandoned, following an accident in 1978 and the consequences of the oil crisis of the day, since the type was even more fuel-inefficient that its western counterpart.The immensely gluttonous aircraft had to fly full time with its afterburners on, contrary to the Concorde which only used them for take off (and what a sight that was, at dusk, in Lisbon Airport, where I saw it more than once).

As a sad but curious note, I remember quite clearly seeing live on tv, in 1973, the tragic  accident of the Tu-144, at le Bourget airshow.

Again on the last day of the year 31DEC2019 Kazpost issued a souvenir sheet containing three stamps dedicated to the  Barsa-Kelmes Nature Reserve. Located on what was once an island in the  Aral Sea and established in 1939, the reserve is now surrounded by one of the worst ecologic disasters known to men, but it still maintains its importance in terms of biodiversity conservation. 

The three 500 teńge stamps depict the Saiga Antelope (Saiga tatarica) - that on my cover- a critically endangered species ; the Onager (Equus hemionus onager) or Persian wild ass, listed by the IUCN as endangered and the Purple Salsify (Tragopogon porrifolius) a plant now common in many gardens around the world.