COVER N. 299 - IRELAND

Postmark: Lios Dúin Bhearna 05.08.23

Posted on the 5th August; Received on the 16th August 2023

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A very nice cover from the Ireland, the Emerald island. 

Whenever I think of Ireland I can't help but think of the most beautiful statue of a writer I have ever seen, that of Oscar Wild in Merrion Square, Dublin (which can be seen somewhere in this page of my other blog). 

And I can't help but also thinking that the emerald colour of his poshy jacket is a perfect chromatic metaphor for the omnipresent green that gave Ireland its nickname.

Such is the overwhelming presence of the secondary colour that  one could be tempted to say, if inclined to a fairly poetic description, that all that green could be the result of the interplay of the blues that encircle it - the ocean and the sky - and the yellow of the sun that shines upon her... but all that imagery would not stand the test of reason, for Ireland, on my personal record, is one of the most pluvious places I know.... I've spent nine days travelling around Ireland once and I got a perfect 9/9 rain score....

Still, I have lived in the Azores, and rain and islands in the temperate areas of the Atlantic just go hand in hand, I guess, and I am not complaining, because rain is a vital part of that green that makes islands famous for; that makes Ireland famous for....!

Thanks Jutta, Nice cover!

Fashion has become... highly fashionable among young people, engulfed by the traps of consumerism and aggressive marketing, so much so that we all read now that the textile industry is a prominent pollution source, with piles of clothes, sometimes not even ever used, being dumped in deserts and thrown into the sea....

But fashion can and should be a sustainable concern. With this aim in mind, Troy Armour founded in 2010, in Dublin,  a fashion competition aimed at young people in secondary education (12-19) challenging them to create high couture from recycled items.

Since its inception The competition has spread all over Ireland and is now taking an international status with the  cities of London, New York, Milan, Paris and Abu Dhabi now participating in the event.

On 04JMAY2023, An Post issued a four  Tariff N (domestic) self-adhesive stamp set highlighting this competition, Of these, two stamps can be seen of the cover.

The postmark indicates that the letter was mailed from  Lios Dúin Bhearna (Lisdoonvarna), a small town of less than 900 inhabitants, located in County Clare, on the central West Coast of the Island.