COVER N.59 - Russia

Postmark: 248033 Kaluga 21DEC21
Posted on the 21st November; received on the 6th january
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Thank you so much Julia, for such a nice Cover and stamps and card (postcard #53)!

It took me some investigating over the internet but I managed to conclude that the nice cover was issued as the FDC envelope for the 40 Ruble stamp issued on 10MAR2020, celebrating the 100th anniversary of Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub, fighter pilot and triple Hero of the Soviet Union.

The image on the cover shows Kozhedub Lavochkin La-7 downing a Junkers Ju 87 Stuka, one of his more than 60 aerial victories, that made him WW2 highest scoring pilot.

Stamps, left to right:

22 Ruble stamp, issued as a single stamp emission on 07MAY2018, on the occasion of the inauguration of the President of the Russian Federation, that is to say, Vladimir Putin's 4th inauguration as President of Russia.

The stamp shows a picture of the Clock Tower of the Kremlin with the cupola of the presidential palace with the Russian Federation Presidential Flag hoisted and flying, in the background.

30Ruble stamp issued on 21SEP2021 as part of a 4 stamp even priced set, themed on the 80th Anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 - Military Uniforms of the Red Army Navy and Air Force in 1941. The image on my stamp depicts a pilot of the Russian Air Force in front of what appears to be a Polikarpov I-16.

The Postmark is «illegible on the top half but the bottom half tells us that the cover was mailed from the city of Kaluga (калуга) on the 21st November.

Inside this beautiful cover Julia sent me a great postcard, that can be found here.

POSTCARD N.52 - Germany

Postcrossing postcard sent on the 25th November; received on the 13th December
Postcard image: Polar Aviation Il-14
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First postcrossing card for the year came from Germany, from the Baltic city of Kiel, the capital of the  Schleswig-Holstein state. Thanks a lot Joachim!

15 thumbnail views of some of the city highlights are contained in this nice card and although none of them particularly spectacular they were more than enough to make me go and read a bit about the city, whose main attraction is the Kiel week (/Kiel Woche), a sailing event involving more than 4000 athletes, competing in regattas of many sailing classes, held every year in the last complete week of June.

Even though I'm not a sailor of any sort, I'd love to got there someday, since cities with boats and ships ring a deep bell within anyone coming from a place like my own city of Lisbon.... I still remember the times that the Tall Ships Races touched Lisbon and the amazing sight of all those beautiful shopos going down the Tagus estuary under the 25th of April bridge....

2021 was meant to be one of those years but sadly, due to the bloody COVID 19 pandemic, the race it was cancelled, so no tall ships in Lisbon, this time...

Stamps

left to right:

The 0,15€ stamp was issued on 18DEC2018, as part of the long standing definitive emission started in 2005 themed on wild flowers. it shows a milkmaid (Cardamine pratensis). 

the 0,80€ stamp was issued on 05AUG2021, celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Fuggerei in Augsburg, 

The Fuggerei was the creation of Jakob Fugger (1459-1525) Europe's richest merchant and banker of his time, born in the Bavarian city of Ausgburg.

Citing from the foundations website: "The Fuggerei is the oldest existing social housing complex in the world, a city within a city with 67 buildings and 142 residences as well as a church. Jakob Fugger founded in Fuggerei in his own and his brothers' names in 1521. Approximately 150 needy Augsburg citizens of the Catholic faith live here for an annual base rent of €0.88 and three daily prayers." 

The image on the stamp depicts a general view of some of the houses and church of the Fuggerei in Augsburg,

The machine applied cancellation indicates that the postcard was processed via the Postal Centre at Kiel city.

COVER N.58 - Czech Republic

Postmark: Betlémské svĕtlo (The Light of Bethlehem) Olomouc 23DEC21
Posted on the 23rd December; received on the 3rd january
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The first cover for the new year, came on the very first day there was postal distribution, hailing from the Czech Republic. Thanks a lot, Ivan, and a very Happy New Year for you and yours.

Ivan used three very nice stamps on this cover, that also features a commemorative postmark.

left to right:

1 Koruna stamp issued on 15FEB2021, part of a definitive series themed on Butterflies started in 2020 with 3 stamps. The butterfly depicted is the "orange tip" (Anthocharis cardamines), a common species of the Pieridae family, that is present in all of Europe (Portugal included) and Asia, up to the Himalaian region.

B Tariff (domestic, Ordinary Letter - Standard up to 50g) stamp issued on 11NOV2021celebrating the  Christmas season, featuring a detail of a Christmas tree with ginger cookies, an apple and a blown glass ball decoration, something for which the Czech Republic is famous for, According to the Czech Post website, this particular stamp also had a special Christmas lavour added, a first for the Czech Post, but I guess this can only be experimented by the person licking the stamp 😅😅😅.

Another B tariff stamp, issued on 23JUN2021, dedicated to the "Ride of Kings", an event that takes place during the annual Kyjov folk festival, which is included on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Citing directly from the Czech Post website "The Rides of Kings, originating as a summer solstice celebration, have a history spanning at least two centuries. The king is a young boy dressed in a girl’s costume, wearing a rose in his mouth and riding a horse. He is accompanied by a large retinue of costumed aids with drawn sabres and scarves carried as banners. They go around the village, begging for money."

After a few hours riding the procession rides back to the House of the king where everything ends up merrily in dancing and feasting.

The special commemorative postmark highlights another Christmas tradition, imported from Austria to the Czech Republic: the distribution of the Bethlehem light. Every year Scouts ensure the distribution of a symbolic Christmas light originated in Autria, all across churches in the Czech Republic, so that believers can also light their candles with the same light. This is the reason why the Fleur de Lis, the symbol of the Scout Movement, is present in this postmark that was available in Brno, Olumuc (the one on my cover) and Prague from the 18th till the 23rd December.

 COVER N.57 - France

Postmark: Père Noel 2021 - Libourne
Posted on (?); received on the 28th December
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Second proof that he really exists, and that he is all over the place. This time he wrote me from France, kindly replying to the letter I sent him via "Le Secrétariat du Père Noël" on the La Poste website.

Upon opening the big C5 envelope, I was greeted by a nice letter, in French and English, since English is modern times Esperanto, inviting me to explore the many activities La Poste made available to children on a special purpose website (groupelaposte.com/pere-noel) and a connect the dots postcard with none other than the old man himself. 

Le Pére Noël is also featured on the pre-printed Stamp on the envelope, with the also pre-printed indication “Lettre Prioritaire Internationale”. 

Éric Contesse on his immensely knowledgeable Mon Blog Timbré, provides, as usual, very interesting and well informed details on this subject, including information about Le Secretariat du Père Noël, a service that, according to him, has been running for the past 59 years. 

I was also able to compare the envelope I received with his and I notice that while Eric’s is the French Version, mine corresponds to the International version, with the inscriptions in English.

All in all a very nice addition to any collection of postal items and a big Thank you! to all those that devote their time to answering the wishful letters from children, whatever their age may be.

 POSTCARD N.51 - Russia

Postcrossing postcard sent on the 25th November; received on the 13th December
Postcard image: Polar Aviation Il-14
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Ilyushin Il-14 - Itself a development of the Ilyushin Il-12, that aimed at replacing the DC3 Dakota workhorse (or as locally built, Lisunov LI-2) in soviet use, the Il-14  first took to the air in 1950. The trycicle undercarriage  aircraft, powered by two radial  Shvetsov ASh-82T-7 engines each delivering 1,900 hp, was operated by a crew of 4 and could transport 24 to 32 passengers. Besides the Soviet Union, the Il-14 was built under licence in the former DDR (FWD - Flugzeugwerke Dresden - Il-14), in Czekoslovakia (Avia-14) and in China (Y-6).

The Il-14 was, unsurprisingly, extensively used by the air forces of the countries that formed the Warsaw Pact and also by many of the countries that gravitated around the Soviet Union centre of influence during the cold war, for a total of more than 2 dozen operators

Conversely , the Il-14 was also used as a commercial transport aircraft by the airlines of of the countries of the Warsaw Pact and a few of the countries that used it for military purposes.

Currently, according to Wikipedia, only 3 confirmed airworthy IL-14 aircraft exist in Russia, with a suspected 4th airframe in the United States. 

The Il-14 on the beautiful postcard that Mr. Postman dropped into my letterbox depicts an aircraft of the Soviet Polar Aviation Fleet, operated in the 1960s, in the same livery as shown by the restored "Penguin" and "Blue Dream", two of the 3 aforementioned airworthy  aircraft flying in Russia. Thank you so much for such a nice card, Julia. 

Stamps, left to right; top to bottom:

- Single stamp set issue with a face value of 15 Rubles, issued on 13FEB2012, celebrating the 125th anniversary of the birth of aviation pioneer  P.N. Nesterov.

Pyotr Nikolayevich Nesterov (1887-1914)... one of the names that attained the status of timeline milestone marker in the history of aviation ... the first man ever to Loop the loop, at a time when pilots weren't even strapped to the seat and aircraft were not much more than DIY contraptions made of wood and fabric.

But even if this was enough to guarantee Nesterov a place in the olimpo of aviators, his name would in time  be enwrapped in the aura of legend due to his extremely combative nature in war times, what would eventually supply the element of tragedy that fosters the myth.

At a time when air combat was almost impossible because the pilot had no other weapon than a revolver or a shotgun, Nesterov came up with quite inventive solutions like flying above the opponent and  dropping an anchor with explosives into his aircraft, or attaching a sabre to his skid and trying to literally cut the fabric of the enemy aircraft. These all proved rather difficult and ineffective, though. So he went the extra mile and decided he would ram the enemy out of the air with his own aircraft. The first time he tried the manoeuvre, against an Austrian Albatross B.II reconnaissance aircraft, although successful, would also be his last since both aircraft entangled and plunged to the ground, Nesterov falling out of his Morane Saulnier Type G to his sad demise.

- 15 Rubles stamp, issued on 18APR2014, part of a 4 stamp even priced set, dedicated to Aerial ramming. Besides Yekaterina Zelenko (1916-1941), the set includes stamps honouring P.V. Eremeyev (1911–1941), B.I. Kovzan (1922–1985) and A.S. Khlobystov (1918–1943).

It seems Nesterov's example would in time be followed by quite a few pilots with absolute disregard for their physical integrity, Yekaterina Zelenko, a woman pilot that fought bravely against the German forces during WW2 was one such case and after having spent all her ammunition she chose to ram a Me Bf109 with her Sukhoi Su-2 in her final combat, thus losing her life. 

- Single stamp set issue with a face value of 21.5 Rubles, issued on 20MAY2016, celebrating the birth centenary of  A.P. Maresyev (1916-2001) 

The story of Aleksey Petrovich Maresyev echoes the more familiar one to us on the western side of  Europe of Douglas Bader.

Both lost their legs in accidents involving aicraft (although Maresyev lost them in combat during WW2 and Bader in a practice flight, long before that) and both, showing relentless stamina, resiliance and a tremendous will managed to become air aces during the second great obscenity. Both would also survive the conflict. 

- Self-adhesive 50 Kopek stamp, part of the 7th definitive issue of the Russian Federation, started in 2019. It exhibits the State Postal Administration Emblem and was issued on 07AUG2019.

COVER N.56 - France - Saint-Pierre et Miquelon

Postmark: Saint-Pierre et Miquelon 23-11-21
Posted on the 23rd November; received on the 3rd December
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Saint-Pierre et Miquelon..., Saint Pierre et Miquelon.... Saint Pierre et Miquelon... (sound of fingers turning the electronic pages of Atlases and Encyclopaedias...)

Hmmm.... Discovered by  Portuguese navigator João Álvares Fagundes (well done, the Portuguese!😀) who called it the land of the eleven thousand virgins (we, the Portuguese, are so immensely creative....) in honour of Saint Ursula whose day  coincided with the date of discovery:  the 21st October, 1520. 

Hmmm,... The last remaining hold of France in what was once a huge North American territory - New France - that started to be colonised in the 16th century and that ran from as North as Newfoundland to as South as Louisiana. Over the years at the centre of the colonial dispute between France and England in the North  American continent, compounded by the emergence of the united States of America in 1776, New France would dwindle in size, its territory being either integrated into Canada or absorbed by the USA, with only 2 tiny islands in the southern extremity of Newfoundland retaining its allegiance to the European power: Saint-Pierre et Miquelon.

Today SPM is a self-governing territorial overseas collectivity of France, with a population of around 6000, its economy, as would be expected, having been deeply rooted in fishing. In later years, though, the restrictions imposed by Canada on cod fishing (something that would also affect Portuguese fishing traditions) and the results of overfishing have had an important negative impact on the Islands' main economic activity and the Islanders are now turning to fish farming and tourism as viable sources of income and employment.

Another curious thing about SPM is that Basque was one of the languages spoken on the islands until the late 50s of last century,  Basque presence (as well as Norman and Breton, the three flags included in the unofficial flag of SPM) dating back to the 19th century as the Islands were again resettled under French ruling. Today, a Basque festival takes place every year and the unaware visitor might be surprised to see people playing Pelota Basca at such northern latitudes...

I couldn't be more happy to have received a cover from such an uncommon origin. Thank you so much Roland. Again and again, your contribution to my collection is outstanding.

Roland used what I consider to be a tremendously beautiful stamp on this letter. Issued on 06MAR2021 as a single stamp issue, denominated at 1,55€, this beautifuly engraved stamp depicts the trawler Béarn of the SPEC - Societé de Pêche et de Congélation, a  mixed capital local fishing company that finished its activity in 1974.

Unfortunatley I could not find any information specificlly related to theis particular ship but a document concerning the insdustry of fishing at SPM stated that as of 1960 SPEC had 4 chalutiers (trawlers) with another joining in in 1961. (the image of  the Béarn does seem to fit this vintage origin)

The general features of these ships were: lenght: 34 -40 m; Moulded depth 7m; speed: 9,5 - 12 knots and they were built upon a Dutch design deemed as fit for te local conditions.

SPEC Béarne is shown on the stamp against the backdrop of the East coast of Saint Pierre with SPEC's own fish freezing facility, now also decomissioned, being clearly identifiable on the shore line.

You only need to be standing, in order to fall.... Monsieur de La Palice couldn't have put it better, I presume, but the fact was that I tripped on crossing a street, fell, tried to protect my face with my hand and made a mess of it. So much so, that on top of a nice purplish blue eye ,  I had a thumb completely displaced and in the aftermath of it I had to undergo hand surgery and am still recovering with the help of physiotherapy.

that is why I have not been updating my blog for the past month or so.

I now have regained the ability to do it and in the coming weeks i'll try to bring it up to date, with the few  nice covers and postcards I got in my letterbox in the meantime.

so... back to normal programming!😀

and a belated 

HAPPY NEW YEAR, to anyone reading this!