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 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.