COVER N. 647 - SRI LANKA
Postmark: Headquarters P. O. Colombo Mail 10.10.2025
Posted on the 10th October; Received on the 22nd October 2025
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COVER N. 647 - SRI LANKA
Postmark: Headquarters P. O. Colombo Mail 10.10.2025
Posted on the 10th October; Received on the 22nd October 2025
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Sometimes all it takes is asking.
In these days of everything digital, it can be a bit of a pain to wriggle up a decidedly analogical mind to work its way out of a technological doubt.
How the
hell do I do it?
The interrogation
pops up time and time again when, for a pressing reason, I am compelled to delve
into the mysteries of computers, their intimate body parts or their intricate language
(see how analogic I am?) .
I can be a
bit of a stubborn beast when these things happen. I will go and try, and try,
and try again.
Still, the
first step I take is always untutored: conjuring up all my faith in my “over par” knowledge, abilities, capacities, capabilities
and skills, I go down all the alleyways I might thing viable to solve the problem
at hand.
This, of
course, 9.5 / 10 times results in utter defeat. The problem will remain
unsolved and, as usual, I will be humbled by the weightless wall of reality that
will descend upon me.
Next step:
go ask google and youtube, the voice within orders.
And so I
do.
And this
might produce results. In fact, comparing with the above approach, I would say
that it would improve things a solid 50%.
But, then
again, some tutorials are either too technically minded, too long to browse
before you find any lead that you can follow that you think might be a viable
way of approaching the problem, or simply you go through all of it (text or
video) only to find that your question remains unanswered.
That, in
itself, might not be a bad thing, if you are musically minded, of course – go
ask Charles Ives – but most times it is just another easy path to
frustration.
And then there’s
the last resort.
And the
best of all
For it is
also the simplest.
Go ask
someone who knows how to do it!
This
option, by comparison with the other two I’ve mentioned, raises the success
rate to the inverse of that of the first approach I always try.
Teachers,
formal or informal, are vectors of positive infection, they are the yeast that
knowledge needs to ferment, they can be chain reaction starters!
And we all
are teachers, for we all know things that others do not.
Where the
line is drawn is on one’s attitude, one’s willingness to share the knowledge one
carries.
For knowledge
is, as financiers say, “an active” and as such can be traded for money,
influence, position…
Or it can
just be given away,
Like most
teachers are always willing to do, provided you ask.
So I never
forget to say “Thank you”, when
someone has helped me solving a question that might have proved too difficult
for me to solve without the benefit of
the help of someone who already knew how to do it.
And it is
so easy, sometimes. All it takes is asking!
P.S. I finally found out how to put links in a comment thanks to the help of Eva, the keeper of the Mail Adventures blog
COVER N. 646 - USA
Postmark: 2026 Boston World Stamp Show First day of Issue, August 14, 2025 Shaumburg IL 60194
Posted on the 20th September; Received on the 14th October 2025
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COVER N. 645 - FRANCE
Postmark: La Poste 08.10.2025
Posted on the 8th October; Received on the 14th October 2025
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COVER N. 644 - KYRGYZTAN
Postmark: ? 24.07.2025
Posted on the 24th July; Received on the 18th August 2025
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COVERs N. 642/43 - FRANCE
Postmark: Croisssant au Beurre 1er Jour 25 - Valence / Paris 07.10.2025
Posted on the 7th October September; Received on the 14th October 2025
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COVER N. 641 - SOUTH KOREA
Postmark: Seoul C.P.O. Korea 18.09.2025
Posted on the 18th September; Received on the 9th October 2025
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COVER N. 640 - FRANCE
Postmark: Service des Oblitérations Philatéliques 24 - Boulazac 06.10.2025
Posted on the 6th October; Received on the 9th October 2025
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POSTCARD N.190 - PORTUGAL
World Postcard Day - sent on the 1st October; received on the 6th October 2025.
Postcard image: Lisbon trams
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Postcrossing was a good idea and so was World Postcard Day, which I believe, was also the brainchild of the Postcrossing team, who established it in 2020, as a way to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the creation of the Correspondenz-Karte, the first official post card, issued by the Austrian Post on the 1st October 1869.
Ever since the first edition of WPD, special commemorative cancellations have been created for the event by CTT, the Portuguese Postal services provider and as usual I do not let pass the date without sending out a few postcards to friends and also one to my own self.
This year I used a postcard from a series that I find quite striking , which features scenes of Lisbon drawn up in a typical graphic novel fashion by Inna Korneeva, a talented Russian illustrator whose appreciation for our capital is quite apparent in the marvellous illustrations she produces.
To send the postcard I chose a N20g (domestic up to 20g) stamp from a very recent issue - 12SEP2025 - dedicated to Portuguese contemporary art, featuring a light sculpture by Pedro Cabrita Reis, titled Central Tejo, which can be seen by the Tagus river in front of the Electricity Museum.
The artwork was a commission by EDP the largest electric power supplier in Portugal, whose foundation manages Lisbon's Electricity Museum implanted in the facilities of a former power generating central - Central Tejo.
My National Covers
Every now and then I have the opportunity to add what I call a "National Cover" to my collection.
These are nothing fancy. In fact they are but covers that I print at home with the flag and coat of arms of a specific country and which I then either send to a fellow collector who is willing to help or give to friends or family or take my own self whenever travelling abroad, in the hope that these might find a way to a local post office to get a stamp and a postmark.
I will be adding these to a new "My National Covers" section in this blog.
If you don't see your country here and are willing to help me add your own country's national cover to my collection, please email me at pnsoares1@gmail.com.
You'll get a cover from Portugal (if you want I'll be happy to print a Portuguese National Cover just like the ones I print for myself, although in a somewhat larger envelope) and a printed envelope with the relevant symbols printed, so that you can then return it to me.
Thanks a lot.
Note: Whenever possible I will try to transcribe the flag and coat of arms information from the relevant national site. Failing that I'll transcribe from Wikipedia.
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Kingdom of Spain / Reino de España
COVER N. 639 - CUBA
Postmark: Correos de Cuba Oficina de Correos Jesús Menéndez CP-77300 07.08.2025 / Correos de Cuba Las Tunas 25.08.2025
Posted on the 7th August; Received on the 1st October 2025
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POSTCARD N.189 - BRITISH OVERSEAS TERRITORIES - SAINT HELENA, ASCENSION AND TRISTAN DA CUNHA
Postcard sent on the 15th May; received on the 1st October 2025.
Postcard image: Tristan da Cunha, Innaccessible Island; thumbnails: Tristan Albatros, Sooty albatros, Innaccesible rail
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Quite fitting that on World Postcard Day I should receive such an wonderful postcard from such an uncommon place as the one I got thanks to the offices of my good friend The Flying Dutchman. O meu muito obrigado Eric! Que surpresa fantástica!
The ship themed stamps on the postcard are part of a thirteen definitive stamp set issued on 14DEC2020, dedicated to Modern Mail Ships, that serviced the Island.
The 5p stamp bears the image of the Gilligan Gaggins, operational between 1965 and 1973;
The 1p stamp is illustrated with an image of the RRS John Biscoe, a supply and research vessel used by the British Antarctic Survey which provided mail services to the island in1957;
The 2 p stamps carries the image of the S.S. Brasil, an American built ocean liner launched at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi in 1957., which provided mail service to the Island between 1960 and 1965.
The 10 p stamp on the face of the postcard is illustrated with a photo of MV RSA, South Africa's first Antarctic supply ship, a 1572 gross ton vessel, built by the Fujinagata Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, in Osaka, Japan, launched on 28 September 1961.
According to the date on the stamp, it provided services to the Islands between 1963 and 1977.
In 1980 MV RSA was transformed into a static training ship for merchant seamen and it was moored in Cape Town docks. It was later partially scrapped and then sunk, when asbestos was found to be present on it.
The 30p stamp illustrated with an Hawker Hart, the famous Sidney Camm design of 1928 that would father a line of very important, and quite beautiful I may add, biplanes which included the Osprey, the Hind, the Demon, the Hardy, to name but a few, was issued on 01APR2008 included in a 5 x 30 p stamp set celebrating the 90th anniversary of the establishment of the Royal Air Force (which, upon inception in 1918, was called the Royal Flying Corps).
The Postmark reads "Tristan da Cunha South Atlantic" and is dated of 15May 2025.
.
In 1980 MV RSA was transformed into a static training ship for merchant seamen and it was moored in Cape Town docks. It was later partially scrapped and then sunk, when asbestos was found to be present on it.
The 30p stamp illustrated with an Hawker Hart, the famous Sidney Camm design of 1928 that would father a line of very important, and quite beautiful I may add, biplanes which included the Osprey, the Hind, the Demon, the Hardy, to name but a few, was issued on 01APR2008 included in a 5 x 30 p stamp set celebrating the 90th anniversary of the establishment of the Royal Air Force (which, upon inception in 1918 was called the Royal Flying Corps).
The Postmark reads "Tristan da Cunha South Atlantic" and is dated of 15May 2025.