COVER N. 567 - FRANCE

Postmark: Acrobates et Jongleurs -  Fête du Timbre 69 - Oullins - Pierre - Bénite - La Poste 08.03.2025 

Posted on the 8th March; Received on the 21st March 2025

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Circus and street artists... probably two of the toughest professions amidst the performing arts professionals.... most of the times highly physical, but also highly seasonal, for we only seem to remember that there is one such thing as "The Circus" around Christmas holidays.

That is the time when the circus caravans "invade" the fairgrounds with their tents and lights and mobile homes for the joy of youngsters and their parents and of the popcorn sellers outside.

This, I now remember, was not exactly the case when I was a wee lad. And I say "now remember" because looking at the very beautiful stamps on the cover that was so kindly sent me, (un grand merci, Eric!) got me into a sudden flashback mode, that took me to my days in the city of Faro, in the Algarve, when I was 5 or 6 years old, some time of the year other than that when pine trees bloom with snowy decorations in places where it does not snow....

The kid would not dare take his eyes from the man with the very long balance pole in his hands, as he took step after step in a way that although seeming  unexpectedly hesitant was but a form of ensuring that the sole of the foot held on to the thin tight cable that ran between two high poles, erect on the  fairground.

"How come he will not fall? '", the kid marvelled at the slowly moving figure and wondered... by now the man had reached the other pole at the end of the rope, down which he gracefully glided.

Once on the ground, the tightrope walker thanked the small crowd that clapped, of which the kid was  part.

The assistant brought a monocycle. The walker climbed the pole again and once at the top the monocycle was handed to him as well as the balance pole.

The kid could not believe his eyes.... as if walking the cable wasn't difficult enough...?!!!!

In a matter of a few minutes the man crossed again to the other pole, on his monocycle, after going back and forth a few times while mid-way across, what awed the kid even more and made him fear that a fall would ensue and with it a most terrible sight.... 

The girl, about the kid's sister age, passed across the audience with the upturned man's hat, wherein some small coins were deposited by some of those watching... not by the kid though, as much as he had wanted to... he had long before spent his only 1 escudo coin, that his father had given him in the afternoon, in a delicious ice cream cone with pastel coloured balls of icy cream, that tasted all the same, irrespective of the colour, and which the seller would take out of the large and aptly decorated icebox mounted on the front of a 50 cc motorbike, which spew ill smelling bluish smoke, whenever the engine was running....

Today, the kid is no longer…

As he types on the keyboard, looking at the stamps that evoked his happy childhood, by the red traffic lights of some of the main arteries in the big city where he episodically goes to, jugglers perform their art in the quest for a coin... some things hardly change, even if times do, come to think about it...

Occurring yearly since 1937, La Fête du Timbre simply aims at promoting Philately in its many guises, making it known to the public at large.

The event is organised by the Fédération Française des Associations Philatéliques, in association with Phil@poste (the La Poste body responsible for stamp printing and issuing) and ADPhile (an association whose objective is to foster knowledge dissemination through stamps and philately), and this year it took place over the weekend of 8-9 March.

For the occasion, La Poste issued the beautiful souvenir sheet and stamp on the cover, dedicated to Street arts, thus beginning a new thematic cycle, after that of the previous Fêtes, dedicated to sustainable transportation.

The souvenir sheet contains a single 2,78€ stamp illustrated with a  couple of tightrope walkers and acrobats, in an updated version of what the kid once saw in Faro....

The 1,39€ stamp features a monocycle ridding juggler performing his act in front of the crowd, while a hat is passed around.... as I said above, some things hardly change, even if times do....

The nice first day postmark, issued at Oullins-Pierre-Bénite, a Commune of the city of Lyon and one of the 64 cities that participated in the event, is also graced with a contour drawing of an acrobat juggler.

COVER N. 566 - BRITISH OVERSEAS TERRITORIES - GIBRALTAR

Postmark: Royal Gibraltar Post Office - Main Office ?.03.2025 

Posted on the ? March; Received on the 18th March 2025

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Seems that the Flying Dutchman on its errant journeys across the seas has recently passed by the Rock 😀. Muito obrigado, Eric! Um abraço.

The theme of the 2020 CEPT/EUROPA common issue was "Ancient Postal Routes".

For the occasion, Gibraltar Post Office chose to celebrate  the contribution of two 19th century vessels that ensured mail services between the small peninsula and the rest of the world, issuing, on 08MAY2020, the souvenir sheet used on the cover .

The £ 1.66 stamp is illustrated with the image of the ‘Lady Mary Wood’ , launched in 1842, while the £2.86 stamp bears the image of  the ‘SS Iberia’, launched in 1836.

Detailed information on both vessels, the property of the bicentenary Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O), founded in 1822, can be found in the release notes for the stamps which can be consulted here.

COVER N. 565 - LITHUANIA

Postmark: Kaunas 43 Lietuva 16.03.2025 

Posted on the 10th March; Received on the 17th March 2025

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A rather curious sending from Lithuania, using an envelope heralding from another time, when the country was still part of the Soviet Union, as attested by the  Copyright notice on the back of the envelope, issued by the Ministry of Communications of the Soviet Union, dated of 1990, the exact year when Lithuania regained its independence.

Good to see Lithuanian stamps on it. The small squares of paper can be a lot of things, it seems… in this case, they are a clear affirmation of sovereignty! Liels paldies, Algis!

Unfortunately, I don't have a clue as to the person honoured by the envelope, since the "Prioritaire" sticker totally obliterated this indication.

- The main stamp on the envelope is a 1 € stamp, issued on 29JUN2018 as part of a self-adhesive six stamp set, all with the same denomination, included in a souvenir-sheet dedicated to Lithuanians across the world. The souvenir sheet was issued on the year that Lietuvos Paštas, the country's postal operator, celebrated its 100th anniversary, having been established in 1918, after the declaration of independence.

- Lithuanian Rulers, is the theme of a three auto-adhesive stamp definitive set, (0.05; 0,20; 1.20 €) issued on 24FEB2024.

The 0,05 €stamp bears the effigy of Grand Duke Vytenis (1295-1316), while the 1,20 € bears the image of  Grand Duke Algirdas (1345-1377).

Incidentally, the 0,20 € stamp that completes the set, dedicated to Grand Duke Kestutis (1300-1382) can be seen on cover #477 .

- The 0,10 € stamp is part of a 3 definitive stamp set issued on 24JAN2025, dedicated to "Samogitian metal artefacts". Samogitia being one of the five specific cultural regions of Lithuania. The artifact chosen to illustrate this particular stamp is identified as a Scaphoid Brooch. I wonder how this could be worn.

The postmark was applied at Kaunas, Lithuania's second largest city.

COVER N. 564 - MALAWI

Postmark: Lilongwe Malawi 19.02.2025 

Posted on the 19th February; Received on the 11th March 2025

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Another country joins the list thanks to the help of  the Phantom and Emannuel. My warm thanks go to both of them.

Malawi. A former British protectorate in Africa, which until its independence in 1964 was known as Nyassaland and which in conjunction of what is now Zimbabwe and Zambia, integrated the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. Further to this two states Malawi shares a border with Mozambique, a former Portuguese colony, which would also become independent more than a decade later, in 1975.

Plenty of stamps on this airmail cover:

Starting with the butterflies:

The original definitive set illustrated with butterflies was issued in 2007, comprising eleven stamps.

Over the years, as inflation rose, surcharged reissues of some of these stamps saw the light of day. 

The 5 Kwacha stamp, illustrated with an image of a sub-species of the  Common fig-tree blue (Myrina silenus ficedula) is part of the original set issued in 2007.

The Common fig-tree blue is a butterfly of the Lycaenidae family found in sub-Saharan Africa, southern Arabia and northern Oman.

The surcharged 440  Kwacha stamp, bears the image of a Forest Queen (Euxanthe wakefieldi), a member of the Nymphalidae family found in the coastal forests of Southeast Africa. The 440 K surcharged version was issued in 2024.

The surcharged 900 Kwacha stamp features a Fiery Acraea (Acraea acrita), another member of the Nymphalidae family, distributed across large regions of Africa. The 900 K surcharged version was issued in 2022.

The other stamps on the cover were issued as part of a 10 stamp mini-sheet dedicated to Lake Malawi, issued on 25Apr2014.

The 500 Kwacha stamp depicts a satellite picture of the lake, while the 840 Kwacha stamp is illustrated with Peacock cichlids (Aulonocara sp.), the genus  being endemic to Lake Malawi.

The rather hard to read  postmark was applied at  the country's capital Lilongwe, a city of around 1 million inhabitants.

COVER N. 563 - FRANCE - NEW CALEDONIA

Postmark: Nouvelle-Calédonie Pondimié 26.02.2025 

Posted on the 26th February; Received on the 10th March 2025

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Thanks to Eric and Marianne for the opportunity to add another cover from a rather uncommon origin to my collection.  Muito Obrigado Eric; Un grand Merci, Marianne.

La Nouvelle-Calédonie is not the kind of place that you hear much about in the news, and I am sure the fact that it is the most distant territory under administrative supervision by another country anywhere in the world highly contributes for this.

In fact Nouméa, the capital, lies 16,000 km away from Paris...

We have a saying in Portugues: longe da vista, longe do coração... away from the eyes, away from the heart.... and although I'm sure that a relationship that has endured since the mid 19th century must have extended its roots deeply into the administrative framework that governs it, the geographical remotness and the natural socio cultural diferences it implies must pose strain on the relation...

Since the 80's independence has been the subject of at least three referenda. So far, those prefering to maintain the ties with the French Republic have been the majority (although not an overwhelming one), but things are far from settled as attested by the events of 2024, which led to the declaration of a State of Emergency and the reinforcement of the military presence on the islands, following protests that caused at least 13 deaths.

At the root of the protest, as far as I understand it, was a constitutional ammendment passed by the French Parliament  allowing immigrants coming from the mainland recently residing in New Caledonia to vote in local provincial elections, what  was considered by the Kanak population (the indigenious population of the islands) as a way of diluting the strenght of their vote  and reinforcing that of those opposing indepence.

Things have since became calmer as diplomacy makes its way behing the stage curtains, but the independence impetus is quite a strong force to contend with, so only time will tell if Nouvelle Calédonie will one day cease to be a sui generis collectivity of the French Republic to become a full fledged independent state.

Marianne used three very nice stamps from a set of four, all with a face value of 110 Francs, issued on 08NOV2018 in souvenir sheet format, dedicated to the pollinators of New Caledonia.

From Left to right we have:

- our well known common European bee (Apis mellifera mellifera) which was probably locally introduced by Europeans settlers;

- a Flying fox (Pteropus Ornatus) endemic to New Calledonia, with a "Vulnerable" IUCN classification

- Crow honeyeater (Gymnomyza aubryana), an endemic bird also endemic to New Caledonia and the South Pacific, which is classified as being Critically Threatened.

The 30 Franc small stamp is part of a 4 definitive stamp set illustrated with a stylised image of a Kagu, (Rhynochetos jubatus) the national bird of New Caledonia where its is also endemic.

So far this set has been reissued several times, since the first issue in 2016. The stamp on the cover is the 2019 imprint.

The postmark hails from Pondimié, on the east coast of Grand Terre, the archipelago's main Island

Marianne kindly included in the cover  a nice postcard with a map of New Caledonia

COVER N. 562 - ALGERIA

Postmark:Illegible 15.02.2025 

Posted on the 15th February; Received on the 6th March 2025

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The second cover that I got from Algeria on the 6th of March  came in a classy blue envelope , with some very nice stamps on it. Un grand merci Zidane.

I love flowers. In that I am no different than probably almost the full Humanity, since I still have to find a person who does not feel attracted to the amazing structures that especially now that spring is about to begin start to erupt out of plants, in a kaleidoscope of formats and colours.

In fact, one of the joys of my customary early morning walks is trying to spot any new and unexpected dots of colour sprouting from plants in the public gardens and woods where I exercise my habit.

In the beginning of March, for instance, I always keep an attentive eye for orchids, because I really have a soft spot for them. Luckily, in a public garden very close to the place where I live,  somewhat camouflaged under higher grass in a precise portion of one of the slopes that lead to the street above,  there is a colony of Ophrys bombyliflora which comes fully alive, this time of the year.

This has been a very humid end of winter and the colony is extremely vibrant this year, with loads of little orchids doting the grass with brownish/purplish spots of colour (although I bet that 99 percent of the people that pass by them will not be aware of their presence, since they are so small and delicate). 

I still haven't had the time to go and photograph them, something I hope to do in the coming days, but here's a picture I took a couple of years ago.

Back to the Zidane's cover... I got a little carried away by the beautiful stamps on it, but the point i was going to make was that even though I love all flowers, I am quite parcial to wild flowers, which I prefer to the hybrids we have in our gardens.

So, as a matter of principle, I usually find stamps dedicated to flowers that are illustrated with wild varieties, more interesting that those highlighting man developed varieties.

Not so in the case of the two 15 Dinar stamps, issued as a set on 05AUG2013, illustrated with a pair of carnations and a pair of petunias. These are trully beautiful, in my opinion.

The other interesting stamp on the cover, with a face value of 40 Dinar was issued as a single stamp set on 11NOV2024 and it showcases the typical potery of Bilder, in the region of Tlenicen, which is claimed to be the finest in Algeria.

This pottery is usually finished in  green, red, black white or yellow and is particularly known for the fine intricate decoration on it achieved with an extract of Pistacia lentiscus, a  shrub common in the Mediterranean basin.

The postmark, unfortunately is illegible in what concerns location information.

COVER N. 561 - ALGERIA

Postmarks: For a Safe Use of the Internet - First day / Alger Ahcene Askri   11.02.2025 

Posted on the 11 February; Received on the 6th March 2025

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Two covers from Algeria on the same day, Nice. Let's begin with this one. Un grand Merci Hocine.

I still remember the first time I read about the Internet.... Must have been the late 80s or right at the beginning of the 90s of last century. I was absolutely amazed by the possibilities it opened in terms of getting people closer together and as a tool for knowledge exchange.

As soon as it became possible and economically viable I bought my first router and signed up a contract with one of the first internet services provider here in Portugal.

Oh the trouble I went through to get it all to work.... I knew nothing about this new technology (and I still don't know much about it, either...) and having to go through all the system and hardware configurations was a pain...

The telephone line would not work properly, or the router would not connect, or the signal would fall off midway between connection....

eventually things got much easier with self-connecting and self-configurating hardware and software and nowadays  everyone can easily use at least the most common services the internet gives access to... (go ask my 90+ father in-law when he pays his supermarket stuff with his cell phone....)

Unfortunately, bad guys don't sleep and all the user-friendliness of today's internet is also an opportunity for those with devious intentions to carry out their ill intent.

Countless stories of people scammed on the internet are proof of this and it is important that  children and adults alike are made constantly aware of the perils lurking on their electronic devices.

The Safer Internet Day, a creation  of the European Union  aimed at raising awareness to the safe usage of the Internet, was celebrated in 2004 for the first time. Since then, on the second Monday of February, more than 100 countries carry out initiatives with this aim in mind.

This year, Safer Internet Day was celebrated on the 11th February and to commemorate it, Algérie Post issued the 40 Dinar stamp on the cover, cancelled with the First Day of issue Postmark.

Postage was completed with a 30 Dinar definitive stamp, featuring a rose, part of a set of four issued on 20OCT2004, dedicated to these fragrant flowers.

The rose stamp was cancelled with a regular postmark issued at the  post office of avenue Ahcene Askri, in Algiers, the country's capital.

COVER N. 560 - CZECH REPUBLIC

Postmarks: 119 00 Praha 022 22.02.2025 / Praha 012 Hrad 22.02.25 / 222 00 Praha 022 24.02.2025

Posted on the 22nd February; Received on the 4th March 2025

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Quite a strange letter from Alex, this time, in that it shown nothing less than 3 different postmarks, all applied at different stations. Danke Sehr, Alex. Quite an uncommon letter....

The small, but quite beautiful, stamp used is the "Pampeliška" (Dandelion) Tariff E definitive, issued on 23MAY2019, part of the definitive series started in 2002, dedicated to the beauty of flowers.

What I find odd, apart from the obviously unnecessary mechanical postmark applied upside down and totally obliterating the interesting Prague castle pictorial cancel, is the coexistence of the latter with the manual postmark over the stamp, both dated of the same day. This seems to indicate that the Castle postmark was first applied on the bare envelope, the  stamp and 119 00 obliteration having probably been applied at a different P. O.  on the same date. Pity about the upside down postmark..... :-(.

A simple cover, and yet interesting, nonetheless.