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.