COVER N. 686 - FRANCE

Postmark: Nouvel An Chinois Année du Cheval - Paris - 1er jour 06.02.2026

Posted on the 6th February;  Received on the 11th February 2026

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My second Year of the Horse cover. This time from France, where La Poste issued its customary very pretty Chinese New Year issue. Un grand Merci, Roland.

The Year of the Horse, or, more specifically, of the Fire Horse, something that occurs every 60 years, will begin on the coming 17th February.

I could go and look for what experts in te Chinese Zodiac expect the year to be, but the sceptic in me will always say that you cannot predict the future, and so you'd better learn from the past, so as not to commit the same mistakes, ever and ever again.

Simple as it might seem, this postulate, nevertheless,  does not seem catch up with human  societies at large, for we keep allowing ourselves to be represented in many cases by lunatics, liars, tormentors, dictators, with the results that we all know... and yet, just like the zodiac, it seems to be cyclic....

Will the circle be unbroken; by and by, Lord, by and by?

there's a better home a-waiting, in the sky, Lord, in the sky...

I wish it were that simple....but what I'd really want would be to everyone to have a better home a-waiting where we are, Lord, where we are!

I would also wish that La Poste would not insist in double cancelling the covers that devoted philatelists so laboriously and carefully prepare to send to their friends... talk about learning with errors from the past....

Will the circle be unbroken...?