smart stamps

hello there

one of those sporadic posts for those of you who use all that google stuff, mostly, to find things that you have an interest in. there will be, then, some keyword insertion, look you see, purely so that those seeking shall find. i wouldn't particularly worry if 10 or 100 read this, just however many have an interest.

i have an interest, as frequent readers will observe, in all things postal. well, not all things postal; i really don't like the sound of all that "going postal" thing employees within the realm of the United States mail services are prone to do from time to time. i do, however, love sending stuff via the mail. if someone sends me something too then that's nice. the latter happened this week - thanks Mum.

although my mail comprised, as you would expect, items predominantly from New Zealand, there was this item from our friends in Australia. someone at some stage, it would seem, sent something from Australia to New Zealand, which shows that relations between the two nations are indeed healthy. nice one, UN, then.

this is, and i warned you of that keyword thing, a 2015 edition Australian Tasmanian Devil stamp. with a value of $1.85. and that would be of course in terms of Australian dollars; a dollar that if you asked an Australian they would state with confidence that it was superior to the better known American one.

this is indeed a most splendid stamp, and i am very sorry indeed that my blueberry phone camera, or if you like camera phone, did a simply dire and awful job of taking an image of it.  another image shall be shown a little later on, but perhaps of not that much better quality.

to move towards a more New Zealand focused view of stamps, and why wouldn't you, here are some magnificent first day covers of commemorative editions. it was super smart for Mum to get these and send them on to me, thank you once again!

for the benefit of avid google users - users who i hope fair better than when i did a search of an image of moi - these are the New Zealand Cricket World Cup 2015 stamps, and just above them are the New Zealand 2015 Year Of The Sheep celebration stamps. with New Zealand being well known for their sheep, it makes sense for them to issue such a set.

as for the cricket world cup, well, it went on too long, and England disgraced themselves in it. New Zealand, Australia and India were superb in it, and it was good to see South Africa play as well as they can on the day, only to be knocked out by a marginally better NZ team.

you are quite right, indeed those stamps are round, or if you like circular, and styled to look like cricket balls. cricket balls which have not, presumably, had the seam prized open to generate false swing and cheat. 

over, then, to the Year Of The Sheep stamp collection, which may well be of interest to our friends in China for reason of content as well as all around the globe who simply like stamps.

these are really smart, they are. smart in the sense of good, not "it really smarts" when something hurts, with that being the terminology that an Australian would use. so using it in the context of a New Zealand celebration of a Chinese event or date would make little sense.

why do i love stamps and the whole concept of the mail system? partially the romance of the way we used to communicate, but mostly as it just feels "right". yeah, this "electronic mail" is faster, cheaper and can reach everyone with a device, which is pretty much everyone these days. for some reason, though, we get all uppity and impatient with electronic mail. people tend to feel any email or similar is an intrusion, and should be skim read. a letter, well, you take the time to read, perhaps subconsciously as someone has taken the time to write it and send it.

to highlight the above, consider "junk mail". for some reason everyone gets all uppity when they get what they call "spam" in their inbox. why? it's just a click away from being deleted. no one really got as emotional or upset with junk mail that comes through the letterbox, did they?

to finish off, then, a slightly better quality gander at that stamp off of Australia for you.

oh yes, indeed that is the film adaptation of The Bonfire Of The Vanities it is sat on. i bought it for 49p as recently as yesterday.

do i not hate, loathe and detest this film adaptation, though? yes, indeed yes, i very much do. it tears the heart and soul out of one of the greatest novels of all time; the novel that i remain convinced will be considered the greatest novel to be written in my lifetime. this film was made at the dawn of the era of political correctness, and in the great scramble to be politically correct this adaptation sanitises the point, or if you like the essence, of the brilliant Tom Wolfe novel.

but i am curious. the film is one for me which does not work simply as it doesn't tell the story i am familiar with and, along with everyone else, expected to see. i have no idea at all if the film in fact tells a different story that's of interest to those unaware or unfamiliar with the novel. as my (considerably) better half has not read the novel, i may indulge in an experimental watch to see what she gets from it. this will rely on me not prejudicing the viewing by throwing things at the television as it is on. i will try.

that last bit, i think, diverted somewhat away from the stamps. whoops, sorry.




be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!