COVER N. 205 - FRANCE

Postmark:  Nelson Mandela 1918-2013 1er Jour 20.01.2023 Paris 

Posted on the 20th January; Received on the 25th January 2023
_________________________________________________________________________________

A caravan of cars comes up to the gate. a couple exits the leading car. The gate opens, and a man, not that young anymore, walks away, head high, hand in hand with his wife, towards the crowd that cheers. His wife raises a fist; he raises a fist, and in his fist it is hope that rises; it is peace and development that rises; it is reconciliation  that rises...

February 1990, live on TV, for all the world to witness. 

Bertold Brecht once said "There are men that fight one day and are good, others fight one year and they're better, and there are those who fight many years and are very good, but there are the ones who fight their whole lives and those are the indispensable ones”

 Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was one of these few.

Some things are impossible to forget, and some may be even harder to forgive. And yet Nelson Mandela chose the path of appeasement over that of revenge; life and justice, over  hatred and prosecution; ethics over brutality.

If ever the Nobel prize for Peace was well awarded, that time was in 1993, and even though there were two recipients, for both played a major part in the process that led to the termination of one of the most obnoxious regimes that ever existed on the face of earth, one of them did it from the oppressed side, the down side of history, while the other had not to endure the discomfort and hardships of  an entire life of prosecution and imprisonment.

Once there was one such a man, and the world became a better place because of him....

One cannot but think of him and of his legacy, upon turning on the TV nowadays at news time.....How can men be so absolutely different.....

Thank you so much, Pierre, for a beautiful cover dedicated to a beautiful Human Being!

Green is the colour of hope. That's probably why green was chosen as the main colour of the 1,80 € (new tariff for up to 20g international ) stamp that honours Madiba, Nelson Mandela, issued on 20JAN2023 by La Poste.

The first day postmark features a symbolic clenched fist, but I wonder if the position if which it is depicted is not also evidence of the idiotic politically correct times we live in, when anything that might be connected with a certain social vision is whitewashed or transubstantiated for fear of being perceived as  declared support to that idea... ? just wondering....

COVER N. 204 - SPAIN

Postmark:  no postmark 

Posted in ? January; Received on the 16th January 2023
_________________________________________________________________________________

Another cover from Spain, and another philatelic mishap....

When I was a kid I was really happy when such a thing happened.... it meant un-cancelled stamps for the album (even if without glue on their backs...)

Nowadays it really annoys me. A circulated envelope without the postmark is unsettling to say the least, and it's not that it hasn't completed the journey for which it was stamped, nor the stamps are the less interesting, no. It's just that ... as if it misses a limb,... 

The postmark, is much more than ink and a graphic design. It is a sign, an evidence of purpose, of achievement, much like the old days (for us “Schengenites”) passport stamp....

So it really annoys me when I get a letter without it, like this one, (although I know that the sender is not to be faulted in any way:

Stamps, left to right:

- The Castle of Jadraque, a little  town in the  Castilla - la Mancha autonomous community, some 80 km from Madrid, as the bird flies, is the subject of the 0,45 € stamp, part of a set of 4  stamps, issued on 20APR2001, themed on castles.

This set is part of a series that was issued for a few years with beautifully engraved stamps dedicated to the many beautiful castles that dot Spain's interior.

- The 70th General Assembly of the United Nations designated 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for  Development.

Tourism being such an important sector for Spain (and its neighbour Portugal) Correos de España did not 

let such a relevant decision pass by without honouring it with a 2 stamp set (1,25 and 1,35 €) highlighting it, issued on 17JAN2017.

Both stamps on the set are designed around the same idea, being illustrated with the logo of the International year and photographs where you can only see foot prints on the sand, as if summoning up the famous phrase, "take nothing but photographs; leave nothing but footprints!"

COVER N. 203 - FRANCE

Postmark:  Nouvel An Chinois - Année du Lapin - Premier Jour -14.01.2023 - Paris 

Posted on the 14th January; Received on the 17th January 2023
_________________________________________________________________________________

Happy new year to all who celebrate the new year by the Chinese calendar, and thank you so much Pierre and Roland, for letting me add this rather joyful first day cover to the collection.

Now that a month is almost past into the new year by our calendar without that many good news on the international front, starting anew might be a good option. 😀

I do not believe in astrology and zodiac. either Western or Chinese. I believe that people are essentially the product of their genetic heritage coupled with the socio-cultural/natural background wherein they develop their personality all through their lifetime. So my being a rat or a piscean means absolutely nothing to me.

That said, I really think that beliefs are part of one's personal and intimate heritage and as such should be fully respected. As such I hope all those  rabbits out there get the most of their year, for they will have to wait for another 12, for the next chance...😀

The Chinese new year is well catered for in terms of philately, with many a postal administration issuing annual sets dedicated to the theme. This is probably also a measure of how broad fetching is the Chinese diaspora, and how important is its cultural relevance.

The year of the rabbit began on the 22nd January. Traditionally, new year celebrations begin the week before the date and so La Poste was right on the first row with its annual Chinese New year issue, that began to circulate on 14JAN2023. comprising 2 stamps, one for domestic service, lettre verte,  denominated at 1,16€ and the one on my cover, with a face value of 1,80€.

The rabbit theme is also the main image on the first day of circulation postmark, applied in Paris. 

COVER N. 202 - MOLDOVA

Postmark: Posta Moldovei Chişinǎu MD-2012 - 10.01.2023 

Posted on the 8th January; Received on the 19th January 2023
_________________________________________________________________________________

On his journey through Moldova, Alex also stopped at the post office in Chişinşǎu, the capital, to send some covers to fellow collectors, I being one of them. Again, thank you so much, Alex. Your generous contribution to my blog is  nothing short of amazing.

Present day Republic of Moldova became independent in 1991, after the collapse of the USSR,  its territory corresponding to what use to be the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, established in 1940 following the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, in the wake of which Romania was forced to cede what was known as Bessarabia and Bukovina to Soviet Russia.  

Reading about the history of Central and Eastern Europe since the beginning of the 20th century suddenly makes me think that countries are in some way governed by what I'd describe as tectonic forces....in fact, much as what happens with continental plates, they enjoy a period of rest and evolution only to accumulate tensions that erupt in sometimes tremendously massive confrontations that, in time, dictate geo-political (as opposed to geo-physical, in the case of the plates) shifts and changes... that will then know a period of rest and evolution....

The first world-war...Versailles treaty...the second world war...West and East blocks....collapse of the Eastern block... emergence of Russian imperialism...Ukraine war.... what next....???

and what for? so much destruction, suffering, hate sowing... wounds that will only heal in hundreds of years, if ever..., 

There has to be a better way of  affirming our capacity to deal with our own shit as rational, conscious beings or else poppies will continue to grow and the world will eventually turn into a sad huge Flanders field....

Ties between Moldova and Romania have always been strong,  the more so since both countries were at a time, between the end of  the  first world war and the early stages of the second, part of the same unified state. Today, 80% of the population speaks Moldovan which is virtually the same language as Romanian, and reunification in the future is not to be completely set aside as there are supporters of this idea on both sides of the borders.

This state of affairs makes it perhaps more understandable that a sovereign state should issue a stamp celebrating the centenary of the coronation of the last sovereigns of the neighbouring state, of which it was also, at the time, part of (a bit confusing, but true nonetheless....).

Ferdinand I became king of Romania on October 1910. During the first world war, Ferdinand sided with the triple entente powers and it seems that the influence of his wife Mary, of British origins, was instrumental for this. Upon the end of the war, Ferdinand was rewarded with the unification into Romania of Bessarabia, Bukovina (both now part of Moldova) and Transylvania, and on the 15th October 1922, he and  Mary were crowned  sovereigns of this enlarged Romania.

Celebrating this fact, Posta Moldovei issued on 15OCT2022 a souvenir sheet with one 9,50 Lei stamp with the effigies of both sovereigns  and their coat of arms, under the legend 100 de ani de la incoronare, in the sheet frame, which must be read in conjunction with the legend in the stamp itself - Suverani Ai Românei Mari, these translating into "100 years past the coronation of the Sovereigns of  Greater Romania".

The stamp is obliterated with a beautiful and quite clear postmark of a post office in the capital of the country, the city of  Chişinǎu.    

.    

COVER N. 202 - MOLDOVA (TRANSNISTRIA)

Postmark: Posta Moldovei Tiraspol 18 - 08.01.2023 

Posted on the 8th January; Received on the 19th January 2023
_________________________________________________________________________________

Transnistria. One of those dormant conflicts that have a somewhat volcanic behaviour.

Issued from the ashes of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics, the then Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, now Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic was declared in 1990 in what is commonly called Transnistria, a strip of territory across the Dniester river bordering Ukraine, that is today officially part of the Moldova Republic,  as a way of ensuring that the territory would remain affiliated with the USSR, should the Moldavian Socialist Republic seek integration into Romania, something that never happened, with Moldova becoming an independent state itself in 1991. 

Transnístria being largely inhabited by Russophone and Russophile slavs, the integration in the Republic of Moldova was never fully achieved and a short bud deadly conflict erupted between the Moldovan and Transnistrian forces, the later supported by the Russian army. A cease fire would be signed in July 1992, but to this day Russia maintains a large military presence in the territory, which although officially part of the Republic of Moldova, continues to claim its independence as  the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, an entity that is only recognised by three equally secessionist states Abkhazia, Artsakh and South Ossetia, themselves very sparsely acknowledged at international level.

The geographic location of Transnistria and the fact that Russia maintains a strong military presence in the territory again became a matter of deeper concern, especially for Moldovans I presume,  in the context of the current Russian aggression against Ukraine, 

Thus, Tiraspol, the Transnistria capital city is not the most obvious place to go on a leisure visit these days, so I was quite surprised to see this charming cover with postmarks from the Moldovan Post at Tiraspol land on my letterbox. Thank you so much Alex, quite an addition to the collection.

Transistria has its own postal system and the Republic issues its own stamps, but I don't know if they circulate outside of the territory, given the idiosyncrasies of its geo-political backdrop.

To post this cover to my addres, Alex most kindly used four sheet corner stamps, a full set  issued on 26NOV2019, celebrating the 80th anniversary of the National Art Museum. Denominated at 1,20; 1,75;5,20 and 5,75 Leu, each of the stamp is illustrated with a  painting masterpiece  from the Baroque period, that I presume are part of the Museum's collection.

Painters and paintings depicted, by increasing denomination order are: Venus and Mars, Jean-Baptiste van Loo (1684-1745); Holy Family, Andrea Sacchi (1599-1661); Bathsheba, Anonym (17th c.) and Angelica and Medor, Michele Desubleo (1602-1676).

The postamrk identifies the service provider as the Moldovan Post, which I presume co-exists with Transnistria's own postal service

COVER N. 201 - SPAIN

Postmark: Correos CTA Madrid - 11.01.23 - Correos La Compañia de Todos - 24.12.2022 

Posted on the 11 January; Received on the 12th January 2023
_________________________________________________________________________________

A letter from  neighbouring Spain, with some stuff I ordered. Nothing particularly fancy but some nice mushroom stamps in perfect chromatic synchronisation with the stamps of His Majesty Filipe VI.

Ask anyone to describe a mushroom and I'm sure 99% of the answers will evolve around a well known image of a white stem with a red cap doted white scales. Amanita muscaria, the fly agaric. Usually associated with pine and birch trees, although toxic it seldom is mortal and it seems that the caps are eaten in some places in Europe and Asia  after a lengthy boiling procedure with plentiful water to eliminate the toxins. 

Other than that they are also hallucinogenic...  Go ask Alice....

Anyway best thing to do is to leave them as they are, they are beautiful and if left alone, no one will fill sorry for it...

I do like to "chase" mushrooms. Come November/December I often go walk in the woods nearby just to see and photograph mushrooms. I can identify for sure  a few (not many)  species, but I never pick them, even if I'm 100% sure. Mistakes with mushrooms are paid very dearly and I do like to open my eyes up each new morning...

I do have one mushroom regret though: although the woods here are mostly constituted of pine trees, I have never seen an Amanita muscaria "in the flesh"... So, I think I'll have to make do with the image on the nice 0,78 € stamp on the envelope part of a two stamp set issued on 01JUN2007.

This was the first set of a series that would run yearly until 2009, with two mushroom stamps being issued each year.

The definitive stamp with the effigy of Filipe VI was issued on 02Jan2016.

I do finde tha slogan of the machine applied cancellation quite well conceived: Correos la compañia de todos, (Correos, the Company of everyone) for its intelligent use of the polysemic virtues of "Compañia".

COVER N. 200 -  GERMANY

Postmark: München 80331- Münchner Christkindlmarkt - 24.12.2022 

Posted on the 24th December; Received on the 12th January 2023
________________________________________________________________________________

200 covers.... almost one year and 8 months since the first cover I received....Time does fugit!

It took exactly one year to achieve the 100th cover mark, so, considering that  I was able to double that figure in  the course of the ensuing 8 months I am quite happy to note that things have gathered some momentum.... Thanks a lot Alex for all your care and help. Yours is the cover, mine is the honour and pleasure to exhibit here,  as I reach this enthusing milestone.

I have said it before, but I couldn't be more thankful to fellow collectors who continuously help me adding diversity to my cover collection,  I won't name them, for I could always risk letting someone out, but truly generous and kind human beings they are.

Thanks to them and to the members of the LCCC who chose to include me in their circuits I now have to start thinking about organising my country list in some other way since as it is, it is becoming too long, within the layout of the blog. Will have to do something about it soon :-)

As I also have written here before, I am no believer, so Christmas for me is much more a cultural mark that is somehow embedded in my "programme for the year" than anything else. But I have to concede that there are some particularly likeable features associated with the season that I do enjoy, in spite of all the discomfort that the social, economic, sociological contrasts and antinomies, brought to light by the way Christmas is felt and celebrated, cause me.

One of them, and probably my longest living Xmas related passion, is getting my teeth on "Rabanadas", a very traditional sort of  sweet French Toast that is probably the more ubiquitous Christmas treat in Portugal, since I believe they are eaten all over the country, Islands included.

On the other hand, my most recent Xmas related joy is receiving letters and covers themed on Christmas. I even found myself writing to Santa.....

As such I was very pleased to get this cover from Alex, since it spells Christmas all over it. 

The nice 0,85€ stamp with the image of a forest of  lovely Tannenbäume with the legend Friedvolle Weihnachten (Peaceful Christmas) was issued by Deutsche Post on 02NOV2022 as a reminder of the contradiction  between what Christmas stands for and the horrendous conflict that rages nearby and it complements the traditional Christmas issue which also features a 0,85e stamp although with a surcharge of 0,40€ to be used for funding social projects, I presume.

The 8 cent stamps illustrated with... an eight, were issued on 03DEC2015, and I suppose they have no other purpose behind than to fill in the gap for a price increase in postage that occurred in the course of the year.

To complete the needed tariff, Alex used an ATM label which was first issued on 03JAN2017, themed on writing and receiving letters.

To round it all up, Christmas is again the highlight in the very nice pictorial commemorative postmarks, that were issued in celebration of the Christmas Market of Munich.

COVER N.199- POLAND

Postmark: Gdansk 50 - ZA - 28.12.2022

Posted on the 28 December; Received on the 10th January 2023
_________________________________________________________________________________

The last of the three covers I got from Poland on the same day, contains the other half of the set that was also used on cover 198, dedicated to "Poland in Space", with four 3,90 Zloty stamps, issued on 06DEC2022. Thanks a lot Roman!

Again stealing the info from ESA's website  "EarthCARE (Earth Clouds, Aerosols, and Radiation Explorer) is a light and radar imaging satellite jointly operated by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and the European Space Agency (ESA) as one of the ESA’s Earth Explorer missions. It will develop our understanding of the role that clouds and aerosols play in reflecting the sun's radiation and trapping the infrared radiation emitted from the Earth’s surface."

and if an image is worth a thousand words, as they say:

Image Credits: esa

The mission is expected to be launched in the current year of 2023 and even If I could not find any direct mention of Poland having a particular role in the project, Poland being a full member of ESA, I'm sure that the connection is there.

The last of the four stamps is dedicated to Proba-3 a mission "devoted to the demonstration of technologies and techniques for highly-precise satellite formation flying. It consists of two small satellites launched together that will separate apart to fly in tandem, to prepare for future multi-satellite missions flying as one virtual structure."

Two key tools of the mission are to be supplied by SENER Polska: the Satellite Arresting and Retarding Mechanism (SAHRM) and the Solar Arresting and Retracting Mechanism (SADM). 

The satellites will be launched in 2024.

Postage is again completed with a  20 grosz stamp issued on 06JUL2016 as part of a long running definitive series dedicated to flowers and fruits, depicting a Crocus, the Saffron flower.

The postmark indicates that the cover was mailed from Gdansk.

COVER N.197 - POLAND

Postmark: Gdansk 50 - ZA - 28.12.2022

Posted on the 28 December; Received on the 10th January 2023
_________________________________________________________________________________

No less than three covers on my letterbox from Poland on the same day. All quite interesting and careful composed as it is the norm with members of the London Cover Circuit Club.

Roman, and in general all the other members of the club who kindly include me in their circuits, always does his best to ensure that the stamps he uses when sending me a cover are in line with my particular interests.

This is something that I really appreciate even though I, most times, have a hard time reciprocating because finding stamps at the post office these days is not an easy task.

In fact, most post offices don't even have  a selection of stamps and rely on self-adhesive definitives, if you're lucky, if not, you'll get a printed label with nothing but a couple of codes a date/time and the value of the tariff, and that's it.

One can always order from the philatelic service, but even that is not a very practical modus operandi since, at least in Portugal, you can only order full sets and not, say, 10 of X, plus 5 of Y and 6 of Z. Plus, it of course takes some time between ordering and receiving the order, so many are the times when I find I should have used a different stamp on a particular cover, but could not, due to pragmatic reasons.

Anyway, the year has passed, my stamp stock is low and I see that the first issue for 2023 will only come out on the 23rd February, so I'll have to make do with what I have at hand in the stock book.

 Against the backgrounds of this state of affairs, always receiving covers careful stamped with my particular interests in mind is nothing short of elating and another measure of how kind and generous people can be. Thanks a lot Roman!

Stamps., left to right:

Crocus, the Saffron flower, is the star of the 20 grosz stamp issued on 06JUL2016 as part of a long running definitive series dedicated to flowers and fruits.

As a matter of curiosity, I had recently received another crocus stamp on a postcard, this time from Belgium.

Incidentally, the flowers and fruits series had five more stamps issued on 2016, these illustrated with a coneflower, a poppy, a lilly, an iris and cranberries.

Poland in Space, is the unifying theme for the four 3,90 Zloty stamps issued on a minisheet on 06DEC2022, of which two can be seen on this cover.

The stamp on the left depicts one of the BRITE satellites launched by Poland.

The  Space Research Center/ Polish Academy of Sciences teamed up with the University of Vienna, FFG/ALR (Austria's Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) under BRITE (BRIght-star Target Explorer) to launch a constellation of six nano-satellites.

The objective of the programme once the constellation of nanosatelittes is fully operational  is to provide milli-magnitude (0.1% error) differential photometry of bright stars. I'll refer you to the project's information os a website maintained by the European Space Agency, since it really is rocket science to me :-)

The two Polish satellites, (nicknamed "Lem" after the late Polish science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem and Heweliusz) were launched,respectively, on November 21, 2013  on a Dnepr-1 vehicle from the Yasny Cosmodrome in Russia and on August 19, 2014 on a Chinese Long March-4B vehicle  from TSLC (Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center), China.

The subject of the second stamp is ESA's OPS-SAT, which according to the Agency itself , being a flying laboratory has the "sole purpose of testing and validating new techniques in mission control and on-board satellite systems".

Of note is also the fact that in order to achieve its mission, the satellite being "only 30cm high, it contains an experimental computer ten times more powerful than any current ESA spacecraft."

Poland was one of the four countries from which originated the members of  the consortium that built OPS-SAT, the others being Austria, Germany and Denmark.

The Postmark, as usual in Roman's letters indicates that the cover was mailed from Gdansk.

COVER N.196 - POLAND

Postmark: BOŻE NARODZENIE (Christmas) Gdansk 50 - 28.11.2022

Posted on the 28 November; Received on the 10th January 2023
_________________________________________________________________________________

The first month of the year is already half past but cheerful echoes of Christmas still linger in my letterbox, as proved by this letter with great stamps and postmarks. Thank you so much, not only for the stamps, but also for the cards, Roman. I truly appreciated it.

One of the oldest flag carrier airlines around has to be LOT, Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT S.A..

Established in 1928,  LOT took over and furthered the role of the Polish domestic carriers Aerolot and Aero, its first flight having taken place on the 1st of January, 1929.

Such a long standing airline could not make it to this day without having to go  through a lot of fleet changes all through its history.

 It all started First with a fleet of the then ubiquitous Junkers F13 and Fokker F. VII, that would in time be replaced with such remarkable passenger planes as the DC2 and the Lockheed Electra, that served until the end of the 2nd world war. 

The integration of Poland in the Soviet block meant that soviet made aircraft were the rule after a period of acquisition coexistence that lasted until 1962 during which  a mix of soviet and western built aircraft such as the Ilyushin 12 and 14 and the Vickers Viscount and Convair 240 were procured. 

After 1962 and until the collapse of the Soviet Union, only soviet designs  would integrate the fleet that had in the TU 134, which began flying in  LOT's colours in 1968, its first representative of the jet age era.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, LOT became a good Boeing and Embraer customer, its current fleet  being composed of a mix of Boeing 737-800 and Max 8; Boeing 787 type 8 and 9 and Embraer E170/175/190/195 aircraft.

Celebrating the 90th anniversary of LOT,  Poczta Polska (Polish Post) issued on 31JAN2019 the beautiful  5,20 Zloty stamp that can bee seen on my cover. The main element in the stamp, which has the aura of a vintage advertising poster, is LOT's logo, which like many other contemporary logos, (TAP, Lufthansa, BOAC, to name but three,  all outstandingly beautiful, if my opinion can be expressed), evolved around the stylized image of a bird.

To achieve the regular tariff, Roman used a stamp with a face value of   3.30 ZL issued on 17JAN2020, as part of a definitive series started in 2018, dedicated to the cities of Poland. 

The lovely Christmas postmark with the star of Bethlehem and a branch of holly hails from the city of Gdansk, the cradle of the famous Solidarność union. 

COVER N.195 - FRANCE

Postmark: 58 Clamency 05.012023

Posted on the 5th December; Received on the 10th January 2023
_________________________________________________________________________________

The first covers of 2023, came in bunch form. no less than 4 in a single day, one of them coming from France, already bearing testimony to the impact of inflation on the cost of public services in the way of a couple of Marianne stamps completing what is now the official postage price for a letter weighing up to 20g in the international service, an increase of 10% on the previous 1,65 tariff.... hard days for stamp lovers are unfolding everywhere...

That said,  its always great to receive a letter with beautiful stamps on it, and this in-taglio printed stamp accompanied by two lovely rather current day Mariannes, do make for a very nice cover. Thank you so much Jean-Pierre.

Stamps have long been a way for countries to publicize their natural or man made wonders. There's probably no postal administration that at some point hasn't issued a stamp or a series of stamps dedicated to places, geographic features, cities, and so on.

So again, looking at a stamp can also be a bit of a passport to somewhere. In the case at hand, the city of Mende in the Lozère Department, Occitania, in the South of France.

Located on the edge of the Parc National des Cévennes, the main features for which Mende is worth visiting are all illustrated in the 1,65 € (20g international) lovely stamp issued on 24OCT2022, featuring images of the Pont Notre-Dame, dating from the 13th century and classified as National Monument since 1899; the Cathédrale Notre-Dame-et-Saint-Privat, which began to be built in 1368 and which, on its day, had the biggest bell of all Christianity, according to the release notes on La Poste site; and le Musée du Gévaudan, which opened in October 2022, and which is in itself composed of   historic buildings in the heart of the city now  harbouring musicological nuclei dedicated to  the history of the city and its natural and built heritage.

To complete the required postage, two Marianne stamps (0,10 and 0,05 €) of the 20JUL2018 issue were used.

The Postmark tells us that the letter was mailed from the city of Clamency, Nièvre Department, in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.

COVER N.194 - GREECE

Postmark: Illegible

Posted on the 7th December; Received on the 30th December 2022
_________________________________________________________________________________

The last letter to drop into my letterbox in 2022 came from Greece, and it included a nice variety of stamps both outside and inside :-). Thank you so much for it George.

Stamps left to right:

E= mc2 probably one of the best known and least understood equations of physics, although in principle, even a rather uncarthesian spirit as mine can understand the premises, that is to say Energy equals Mass times the Speed of Light squared, but not the implications...

The famous equation, a molecular diagram of some sort plus an olive (?) branch were the images chosen to illustrate the 0,01 € stamp issued on 05APR2005 as part of a seven stamp set dedicated to anniversaries and  events. This particular stamp commemorates the 75th anniversary of the General Chemical State Laboratory.

- Also part of a set dedicated to anniversaries and events comprising 9 values,  the 12 drachma stamp was issued on 24NOV1079, honouring the 100th anniversary of the death of Aristotélis Valaorítis (1824-79) a Greek poet and politician.

- The 4 Drachma stamp is equally part of this same set, and it celebrates the 200 Years Death of Cosmas the Aetolian, a Greek Orthodox Church Monk, who devoted his life to spreading his faith all over Greece, the Greek islands and Albania, establishing over 200 schools and who would become known for his prophesies. Accused by the Ottoman authorities of spying for Russia, he was sentenced to death by hanging, and executed in 1779.

- The 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games took place one again where it all started, Athens, between June the 25th and July the 4th.

Calling on the attention of philatelists and public in general to the forthcoming event,  Hellenic Post issued  on 18MAR2011 a five stamp set dedicated to the event, the lowest value stamp of which (0,02 €) highlighting the Games' Volunteers Program can be seen on my cover.

POSTCARD N.100 - NEW ZEALAND

Postcrossing postcard sent on the 27th November, received on the 30th December 2022

Postcard image: Milford Sound, Fiordland - Late afternoon at Milford Sound looking towards Mitre Peak.
__________________________________________________________________________________

How fitting that Postcard 100 should be  be coming from the Antipodes. Furthermore, it is one of the most beautiful postcards I got since I initiated my blog, one that is full of that "I want to go there"  atmosphere.... Thank you so much Belinda! your card is as great as the cover (#193) within which it travelled the  19 690 km that separate us.

I first heard of Milford Sound when I watched a documentary on TV, quite a number of years ago, about the Milford track.  The 3 day 53.5 km walk has, since then, been kept on my memory as one of the most beautiful tracks on the globe, and one that I would love to waste the sole of my hiking boots in, something that I'm pretty sure will never happen, for a good number of reasons...

I am not even sure that I will ever set foot in New Zealand, although I would absolutely love it, for it has to be one of the msot geographically diverse countries of the world, with an immense scenic beauty. Still one never knows what the future is holding in store, and hope is the last thing to die, so who knows...

Meanwhile I'l keep looking every once in a while at this beautiful postcard if only to remind me that there is a place, right opposite to the one I live in, that has this most amazing fiord and a three day walk that ends right in the middle of it... 

Belinda added a stamp to the postcard, even though she mailed it inside an envelope, just for the sake of it, and I'm glad that she did, because the little definitive stamps with scenic views of the country are great.

This 10 cent stamp is part of the original issue of this series, comprising 10 stamps, issued on 09MAY2007.

I

COVER N.193 - NEW ZEALAND

Postmark: Illegible

Posted on the 26th November; Received on the 30th December 2022
_________________________________________________________________________________

Just as the year was drawing to its final day a very beautiful and Season oriented cover dropped into my letterbox from literally the other side of the earth. Thank you so much, Belinda, for this great cover, with beautiful stamps and also for the outstanding postcard (#100) from an outstanding place, that came inside.

I have already stated here that I love a good handwriting, especially because mine is quite the opposite. Belinda not only addressed the letter with two very fine types of handwriting but she also embellished the envelope with a lot of rubber stamps and tapes and even a sticker of a little uniformed guy, as befits the Season. All in all, Very nice!

Sadly the postmark was applied mechanically and almost didn't touch the stamps. There are faint blue traces of it on  a couple of the stamps but for the most part the stamps are unmarked.

Stamps. left to right:

- Meri Kirihimete, Maori for Merry Christmas, reads the legend in this very beautiful 1,70 NZD stamp, part of a set of 5 (1,70; 3; 3.80; 4.30; 4.50 NZD) issued in souvenir sheet form issue by New Zealand Post on 05OCT2022 as their annual Christmas issue.

I take it that the main motif in the centre is a stylised snowflake, but I have to confess that I was a bit puzzled by the use of what looks to me like chilli peppers framing the flake, so I went and googled it and lo and behold... it seems that Chilli peppers are traditional Christmas ornaments in several places.... that I didn't know, but I can understand that their colours, green and red, really do fit the mood of these festive days... 

- on 02FEN2022, New Zeland Post issued a souvenir sheet comprising 4 stamps (1,50; 2,80; 3.60; 4.10) dedicated to "Historic Ships".

The stamps replicate absolutely stunning paintings by New Zealand artist Sean Garwood, who specialises in Still life and Marine Art and I do recommend a visit to the artist's website, to get to know his masterly works.

The oil on canvas painting that is replicated on the stamp on my cover is also featured on the site's gallery (and so are the other three), it being called "Early Golden Years, Waka and sailing ships, Golden Bay 1843", although the legend included in the stamp reads "Early trading between Mähori and Päkheä at Tata Beach, 1843", Päkheä being the Mähori term for European Settler.

A set of six definitive stamps with scenic views of New Zealand with was issued on 18MAY2016, as the 6th issue of the series. The 40 cent stamp featuring the Church of the Good Shepherd, in Lake Tekapo, on my cover is part of this issue.

The first issue of this series, comprising 10 stamps,  began to circulate on 09MAY2007. The 20 Cent stamp on the cover with an image of the Rainbow Falls in Northland is part of this set.

COVER N.192 - SURINAME

Postmark: Paramaribo Suriname 02.12.2022

Posted on the 2nd December; Received on the 29th December 2022
_________________________________________________________________________________

Nothing short of a complot, I am told: two kind friends united efforts so that I could add another country to my Philatelic atlas. Thank you so much Eric and Roland, this was a great Christmas gift!

Suriname, the smallest South American country, independent since 1975, with a total population of about 613,000 as of 2021 according to the world bank data, where Dutch is the mother tongue for 60% of its nationals, as a result of its past as a Dutch colony.

With an economy relying heavily on the mining industry, producing such products as gold, bauxite and oil, Suriname maintains strong links with the former coloniser both in economic and cultural terms (the idiom , I'm sure,. playing an important part in this reality) although, I found out, the Netherlands do not rank in the top three places of the podium of export partners, these being occupied by Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates and Belgium,   

The importance of the relationship with the Netherlands is however apparent in its position  as the second most important source of imports to Suriname, after the United States and before China, who ranks as third.

Suriname, as all South American countries located at comparable latitude is a biodiversity hotspot, most of its territory (90.2) being occupied by dense rain forest, thus making it the country in the world with the highest forest cover. 

The special relationship wit an European country is also easy to grasp although in an indirect way from this very nice cover, absolutely laden with stamps.

Europa stamps were first issued in  1956, the year when the postal administrations of the founding six members of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) decided they would annually issue stamps with a common design.

Celebrating half a century of Europa issues is a fact that one would not be surprised to see happen in Europe but seeing it take place in upper South America, can only be put in context if one considers the historical economical and cultural  bonds between Suriname and the Netherlands, one of the six countries participating in the first Europa issue.

As such, on the 4th January 2006, Surpost, the Suriname Postal Administration, issued a souvenir sheet with three stamps with a face value of  1, 2 and 9 Surinamese Dollars, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the fist EUROPA common design stamp emission.

The stamps replicate the designs of the Netherlandic issues of 1956 - a scaffold supporting a tower made from the words EUROPA; 1958 a dove flying over the E for Europe, and 1959, a circular chain made of 6 elements - these being presented inside a frame that includes the name of the emitting country, the legend EUROPA 1956-2006 and the face value of the stamp.

This souvenir sheet can be seen in the centre of the cover although the images on the sides of the  frame - a Douglas DC8 from Suriname Airways and a Boeing 747 from KLM - are hidden by groups of the same stamps that are included in the souvenir sheet, albeit in se-tenant form,

Completing the postage needed to mail the cover to this side of the Atlantic is a se-tenant pair of 1,5 Surinamese Dollars stamps that were issued on 14SEP2011, dedicated to the charming Azalea flowers.

The stamps are obliterated with very large postmarks from the capital city of Paramaribo

COVER N.191 - UK

Postmark: 01.12.2022 (?)

Posted on the 1st December; Received on the 21st December 2022
_________________________________________________________________________________

There was a time when the days before Christmas would see an influx of letters with Season's Greetings cards arriving in letter boxes. We, at home, would display them somewhere next to a Christmas decoration.

Christmas cards were also a relevant source of income for some well deserving entities, like UNICEF, who would sell thousands of cards to companies (ans also to individuals) therefore generating some revenue that could later be used for truly important actions like vaccination or food distribution in geographies that sadly would and still do depend on external help for a vast majority of the population.

Not anymore. Season's greetings, like any other type of messaging are nowadays almost entirely channelled through email and so the pleasure of receiving a nice card from a friend is almost gone, replaced with the immateriality of an image on a computer screen.

Not so with my friend Fraser, who year after year keeps designing and sending his amazingly witty Season postcards, like the one he again sent me last year ( strange thing to write.. last year was only a couple of days ago....)

So, Thanks a lot, old pal, I really liked your beautiful card, which I cannot go by without posting  here:

If receiving a Christmas card is something that is rated as a  "Critically endangered" species, receiving a card with a Christmas stamp as postage is even harder to come by, I think.  So I was quite happy to see that my letter from Fraser had been posted with one of the six self-adhesive stamp set issued on 03NOV2022, dedicated to the theme, with illustrations by Katie Ponder.

Of note is the fact that the (hard to read) mechanical postmark urges users to "Use your old barcoded stamps by 31 January 2023 or swap them for the new barcoded ones", that is to say "The Queen is dead, Long live the King", I guess....