And a Happy New Year...

I have received so many cards over the Christmas and New Year period that there is no way I can put them all on this blog.  So I have just chosen a couple of my favourites.  The above one (1269) is from Susanne, my friend in Dortmund, Germany. 

This one (1273)  is from eight year old Katya, a postcrosser (UA-900492) in the Ukraine.

It had these super stamps on it -

The above stamp is of a beautiful Russian actress from the turn of the Twentieth Century.  Vera Kholodnaya was the first star of Russian silent cinema. Only five of her films still exist and the total number she acted in is unknown, with speculation ranging between fifty and one hundred.  She died young as a result of the 1918 flu pandemic.

Anastasia from Minsk in Belarus sent me this delightful card - 1223 - which says (in Estonian) 'May your Christmas wishes come true'.

This map of Switzerland - 1201 - came from Michi (CH-174908).

This was the first time I had ever seen a hologram stamp (which proved impossible to scan properly).

 Chloe from the Philippines sent me this direct swap map - 1208 -

 
 Books, of course, feature on a lot of my cards.  This one - 1195 - from Danielle in Nebraska is by Katsuhisa Toda and is entitled 'The Key'.

 Bonnie Jeanne sent me this Reading Woman card  - 1222 - which is one of my favourites.  By Edouard Gelhay it is entitled 'Elegant Women in a Library'.

 Kate, a teacher from Russia, sent me this postcrossing card (RU-2247373) from my favourites - 1205.

We have had a mild winter so far but there are floods across the whole country (100 flood warnings last night alone).  So the title of this card from Danielle - "Mail in all conditions" - seems quite appropriate even if we haven't had the snow yet.  Meanwhile Danielle and much of North America is freezing.

Many of my Christmas postcards featured Santa Claus in his various guises but on this one from Monica tomten knocks on the door on Christmas Eve while the family are gathered at the table rather than sneaking down the chimney overnight.

 The postal services have been extra busy over the last few weeks  as 1197 from Heleen in The Netherlands shows.

Heleen used one of the best postal services stamps I have seen yet -

Natalya, a Russian civil engineering student and postcrosser (RU-2236074), sent me this Happy New Year Card (1191) and I am happy to pass on those same wishes to you...

I have been so lucky.  And I haven't even shown you my New York cards from Virginia, my cards of India from Amit,  or my Chinese cards from Dai Li yet...

455 – A British pillar box

Card no 455 - Danielle 

A British Elizabeth II double pillar box 

Country Card Sent From: USA 

Place that Card Sender Lives: Omaha, Nebraska 

Date Received: 26th March 2013 

Distance Travelled: 4,122 miles 

Time Taken: 10 days 

The UK has a wide variety of different pillar, lamp and wall letter boxes so it was by pure chance that Danielle sent me one that showed the type my cards to her are often posted in. This is a photo of it done in the same style as Danielle's postcard.

Because I don’t postcross with people on the UK I don’t get British pillar boxes. Perhaps I should start including the UK in my postcrossing.

This was the stamp - for once the beautiful new round USA stamp was not obliterated by the franking process. 

Gold Post Boxes

Royal Mail has painted some of its iconic and much-loved red post boxes gold to celebrate every Team GB and Paralympics GB gold medal win during the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.

 

Here are four of them that I hunted down this week (thanks to Jo driving and some dodgy navigating by me).  If you want to find one yourself you can visit the Post Office site and look at the map. It helps if you live in the UK, of course!

Newent - Gloucestershire, England - Charlotte Dujardin

Olympic Gold medal Equestrian Individual Dressage

Trull - Somerset, England - Deborah Criddle

Paralympic Gold medal Equestrian: Mixed Individual Freestyle Test - Grade III

Hay-on-Wye - Powys, Wales (though the Post Office call it Herefordshire, England!) - Josie Pearson

Paralympic Gold medal Athletics: Womens Discus

Flint - Flintshire, Wales - Jade Jones

Olympic Gold medal Taekwondo Women's 57kg