COVER N. 559 - SRI LANKA

Postmark: Headquarters P. O. Colombo Mail 18.10.2025

Posted on the 18th February; Received on the 26th January 2025

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Latest sending from Ravindra features the first issue for the year, of Sri Lanka Post. Bohomȧ  sthoothi, Ravi!

As far as I managed to conclude after searching a bit over the internet, Planet Protectors is an Environmental minded organisation established in Sri Lanka, "dedicated to preserving and protecting the Earth’s natural ecosystems.

Founded with the mission to inspire, educate, and empower individuals and communities, Planet Protectors strives to address the world’s most pressing environmental challenges through impactful initiatives, collaborative efforts, and innovative solutions." (quoted direct from the organisation's  website.

Further to the practical actions promoted by Planet Protectors, like reforestation and environmental protection sessions,  the organisation is also responsible for running what is called "The Earth Summit" an environmental conference bringing together political leaders, Scientist, Conservationists, Policy Makers, Educators and Individuals, to foster debate and exchange of ideas and experiences in the field of Environmental Protection and Conservation.

This year's conference, Earth Summit 2025, organised in cooperation with the Sri Lanka Government , took place on the 11th February, in the Dambana Tribal Village of Sri Lanka, under the motto "Love nature, Save wildlife" and focused mainly on the relationship between Humans and Animals, in particular in the not always easy relationship between Elephants and People.

Marking the occasion, Sri Lanka Post issued on 11FEB2025, a single 50 Rupee stamp of which a pair and a single stamp souvenir sheet can be seen on the cover Ravindra sent me. The stamp is illustrated with the logo of the conference in the centre, while the relationship between elephants and man is hinted at by the presence of an elephant and its calf on the right and the effigy of  Uruwarige Wannila Aththo, the leader of the Indigenous Veddah Community, and one of the key participants in the conference.

COVER N. 558 - BELIZE

Postmark: Ladyville Registration

Posted on the 11th February; Received on the 25th February 2025

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Independent from its former colonising power, the UK, since 1981, and only recognised by neighbouring Guatemala, with whom there are still disputes as to the definition of the common border, in 1992, the state of Belize,  holds a total population of about 400,000 nationals and, as a realm of the Commonwealth, is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, its Head of State being the Monarch of the former colonising power, that is to say, King Charles III.

With an economy deepley rooted in tourism and agriculture, this small state of Central America gets its name, it seems, from one of the rivers that run through it, River Balis.

Once part of the Mayan civilisation, Belize fell first to the Spanish concquerors in the 16th century and was then occupied by English settlers in the 18th century.

Belize was not yet on my list of countries, here on my blog, so it was with great joy that I opned up my leterbox today to find that my friend, the Flying Dutchman, had included me in a circuit originated in this rather not so usual location. Muito Obrigado, Eric. Um grande abraço!

Eric used a 75 cent stamp issued on 06DEC1999 as part of a four stamp (25; 60; 75 Cents; 1 Dollar) Christmas issued for the year, featuring reproductions of religious paintings. The work highlighted on the 75 cent stamp is "Madonna and Child with St. John and Angel"  by an unknown artist, as indicated in the legend on the base of the stamp.

The postmark was applied at Ladyville, the largest village of Belize, located some eight miles from the country's capital, Belize City, of which it is actually a suburb. 

POSTCARD N.176 - SRI LANKA

Postcard sent on the 11th February, received on the 18th January 2025.

Postcard image: Post Office at Nuwara Eliya 

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Lately, my friend Mr. Postman has been acting rather thriftily  in what concerns visits to my letterbox, on top of that, I have been in bed for the last few days with the worst case of flu I had in recent years, so the last postcard I got from Ravindra was quite a cut in the monotony of coughs and sneezes and body aches that have been filling my days. Bohomȧ  sthoothi, Ravi!

With each new Postcard that Ravi sends, the desire to visit his land grows, so many are the points of interest that Sri Lanka has to offer. Just have to wait until my companion of 42 years finally retires so that we can travel in the best time of the year to visit the beautiful Island of Taprobana.

And I'm sure that on seeing a sight such as the one on the postcard below, all those reading these lines will follow me in this desideratum...

The Tudoresque Nuwara Eliya Post office building was built by the British in 1894, and since that date it has been open to the public what makes it one of the oldest Post Offices in Sri Lanka.

As I read in Wikipedia, the postmaster's living quarters were converted into  tourist accommodation in 2012, and in 2017, the United Postal Trade Union of Sri Lanka went on a 3 day strike to stop the conversion of this amazing Post Office and also those at Kandi and Galle Fort into hotels... some things are better left unchanged, it seems.

The 20 Rupee stamp featuring a Schumacheria alnifolia, a critically endangered member of the Dilleniaceae family endemic to Sri Lanka, was issued on 07OCT2016 as part of a 12 definitive stamps issued in two minisheets (1x 8 and 1x4) themed on the Flowers of Sri Lanka.

Smal as the stamps from this particular issue are, I find them rather beautiful.

The 50 Rupee stamp is one that Ravi has already used before, part of a set of four (2 x 50 Rupee + 2 x 110 Rupee) dedicated to the UNESCO WHS of Sigiriya, issued on 15JUN2023.

As usual with Ravindra's covers and postcards, the postmark indicates expedition through the PO Headquarters of Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital.

COVER N. 557 - NETHERLANDS

Postmark: Zwolle

Posted on (?); Received on the 10th February 2025

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Every once in a while I get a request to exchange covers from a fellow collector who happens to come across this little blog of mine.

This time the request came from the Netherlands and I was quite happy to receive this cover from Rohan, which also included a kind gift of stamps inside. The more so since I haven't been receiving much mail in this beginning of year and to hear again the sound of the metallic flap of my letterbox being dropped by my friend Mr. Postman, really feels me with joy.  Hartelijk dank, or better yet, Multe mulțumiri, Rohan!

Bonaire is a small island in the Caribbean, off the coast of Venezuela, and part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands since 1636, following the Dutch conquest of Curacao from the Spanish in 1634.

In Bonaire, 209 confirmed bird species have been registered. On 02JAN2024,  PostNL issued a 10 tariff "1" Stamp minisheet dedicated to the birds of this particular Dutch possession. One of them featuring a photo of  a Red Caribbean Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber), was used on the cover. Red flamingos inhabit the salty lakes of Bonair, Lake Goto having a population of 20,000 individuals of this beautiful member of the Phoenicopteridae family.

Willem-Alexander became King of the Netherlands, on 30 April 2013. that very same year PostNL started to issue yearly definitive issues with the effigy of the king, the stamps of these sets being distinguishable from each other by the faintly  imprinted year  that appears on the top corner of the stamp. The Tariff "1 International", of the 2024 set was also used on this cover.

The mechanical postmark was applied at Zwolle, a city of 120,000 inhabitants on the eastern side of the country.

COVER N. 556 - BRASIL

Postmark: A C Central SE/SPM 20.01.2025

Posted on the 20th January; Received on the 31st January 2025

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Luis kindly sends me a cover to follow up on the theme started with cover #542: Radio. Muito obrigado Luis, pela interessante emissão (o vocábulo não poderia estar mais adaptado 😀)

The 100 years of Radio in Brazil. A theme that can really relate to a stamp "emission", as I told Luis in our common language, above.

Radio, the harbinger of news;, the company for the evening; the connection to the world, both before and after TV, in those places where it was not available, such as I experienced for years as a child.

Radio, the magic box that exposed me to the music I came to love through author's programs that were a immensely far cry from the hours and hours of publisher dominated play lists which today fill wave after wave with the same pre-fabricated hits, that have more to do with selling the highly stereotyped looks of an "artist" that with "Music" itself.

Radio, an old technology which I think will still be around until the day when cars will be fully autonomous, self-driven.

In fact, I think that the lifebuoy for radio has been the fact that we cannot take our eyes from the road (or at least one shouldn't....) when driving. I would imagine that most of the radio that is heard is by drivers, their auditorium being the confinement of their cars while commuting to and from work.....

Until that day comes, I will still turn on the radio in my car or here in my work desk, where I can hear emissions from all over the world thanks to https://radio.garden, a rather curious platform that allows us to do just that.

In fact, as I type, I'm listening to Antena 1 FM 94.7 in S. Paulo, as a tribute to Luis.... who knows if he's listening to it too right now 😀.

As I read on the AESP - Associação das Emissoras Rádio e Televisão do Estado de São Paulo  (Radio and Television  Broadcasters Association:

"Officially, Radio was born in Brazil on the 7th September 1922, during the celebrations of the Independence centenary, with the long distance wireless transmission of president's Epitácio Pessoa allocution for the inauguration of the Brazilian radiotelephony."

Precisely 100 years to that moment, on 07SEP2022, Correios do Brasil issued a 4 x 3,25 reais minisheet celebrating the occasion. When together, the four se-tenant stamps which Luis used on this interesting cover  bear the image of a an old radio circular display over which an old fashioned  radio and a radio reporter are superimposed.

Luis also glued onto the cover  the remaining graphic elements of the minisheet, namely the logo for the commemorations of the centenary and another radio display, again with "frequencies" ranging from 1922 to 2022, as it was the case on the stamps themselves.

As usual on Luis' covers, the postmark hails from the central Post Office from the city of São Paulo.