COVER N. 508 - HUNGARY

Postmark: Balatonalmádi 11.09.24

Posted on the 11th September; Received on the 17th September 2024

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A travel through time... a beautiful first day cover... from 1985. Nothing like some nice flowers to brighten up your day. Köszönöm szépen, Hòka.

As I type I cannot erase from my mind the absolutely heart-wrenching images I saw on TV of the effects of tempest Boris in several central and eastern European countries, Hungary being one of them. I hope that things get back to normal  soon and that all those afflicted by the storm can find the help they will surely need to rebuild their lives.

The negative impact of  large scale natural phenomena brought about by extreme weather, be it tempests or forest fires, such as the devastating ones we had in  Portugal again this year, is growing with each year that passes....we must find a way out of this vicious cycle....climate change is a global challenge and a global threat to everyone.... Scientists have warned us, the Secretary-general of the UN has called on our attention to it, even the Pope has many times raised the issue in his allocutions....

We urgently need leaders that will work together to find a way out of the labyrinth, but as António Guterres yesterday said, the world is derailing..., all because of the lousy quality of most of the conductors, I add...

Lilies, who doesn't love them? The Liliaceae family comprises some 600 species of flowering plants mainly to be found in the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere.

On 29OCT1985, the postal services of what was then the Hungarian People's Republic issued a seven stamp set (1; 2x2; 2x4; 5 and 6 forint) dedicated to flowers of the Lily family.

left to right:

- Snake's head fritillary (Fritillaria Meleagris), a native to the flood river plains of Europe, it is easily recognised by the checkered pattern of its petals.

- Lemon daylily (Hemerocallis lilioasphodelus), daylilies produce flowers that last but for a day, and the Lemon daily is one such case. It can be found in the wild in China, Russia and Northern Italy and Slovenia.

 

- Orange Lily (Lilium Bulbiferum), a native to most of Europe, from Spain to the Ukraine, growing on mountain meadows and hillsides.

- Martagon Lily (Lilium Martagon). another widely distributed plant that can be found from Portugal (although it estimated that its local population only numbers between 2,500 to 10,000 plants) to Mongolia.

The stamps actually used to post the letter to Portugal comprise two pairs of "Belföld" (domestic) tariff items:

- Stamp illustrated with a photo of a postal delivery bicycle, part of a 5 (3 x Domestic + 2 x Europa) self-adhesive definitive stamp set, issued on 05MAY2021, dedicated to postal history artefacts.

- Stamp issued on 07JUL2023, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the introduction of Postal Codes in Hungary, illustrated with a map of the country divided into the 9 existing Hungarian postal code regions.

The Postmark indicates that the letter was sent from the city of Balatonalmádi, a resort town on the northern shore of lake Balaton, with a population of 8,500.