Sunday Stamps - Cartoons or Illustrations

Am I lucky to live in the United Kingdom and can use the stamps Royal Mail produce on letters & postcards I send?  

This year saw Royal Mail issue stamps celebrating DC Comics. I haven't been much of a comic reader, and haven't followed super hero movies.

Roayl Mail has also previously issued stamps about the Great Fire of London. I think I have only a couple of stamps from this issue left.

Then, there are book illustrations. I love Roald Dahl (Tales of the Unexpected, and the letters, Love from Boy, a collection of letters sent to his mother), but have not read many of his children's stories. 

Also illustrations for more grown-up books, but I haven't finished any of these books. I struggled to get half way through David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, way back in school (but no one from my class managed to finish it either back then). 

Sunday Stamps - Trees

Running a little late with today's blog post due to being out and about in Snowdonia, wandering through some woods. Perfect excuse considering today's Sunday Stamps theme set by See it on a Postcard.

The other day, ventured into Coed y Brenin, around one of the trails. Will want to revisit.

Westonbirt is one of my favourite places in the UK, especially in autumn for looking at the fungi.

There are plenty of well landscaped places, and trees stand proud. I have been only to Alnwick Castle in the 4 stamps above.

Well, not long now until Christmas, but we won't have a tree this year. However, can make up for it !! with a stamp or two.

Sunday Stamps - Music

Been through some of my old snail mail photos for stamps associated with music... The first instalment in this post is a stamp from a miniature sheet. I do like the music of Pink Floyd, and also enjoyed the video of Roger Waters The Wall on Netflix.

I also like a bit of Mike Oldfield and Tubular Bells...

However, not a huge fan of hip-hop, but it looks OK on a stamp.

Not a stamp but part of a page in a Simon Drew address book I have! 

Stamps on Sunday

Decided to look through my blog's picture archive for some thematic stamps. We have bridges, and we have train tracks.

Here is a bit of extreme philately. Menai Bridge, pictured from the Isle of Anglesey, across the straits from the mainland.

For train tracks, we have the Thomas the Tank Engine miniature sheet, and a miniature sheet below in the classic locos series. 

I do occasionally use the individual stamps from miniature sheets on outgoing mail, well, because after all, they are postage stamps, but it can be psychologically difficult to crack into a sheet for the first stamp. 

Stationery on Sunday. Sympathy cards

We suffered a bereavement earlier this month and this got me thinking about sympathy/condolence cards. I went into a local card shop and had a look at their selection. While the front of the cards were mostly tactful, I didn't like some of the fluff written inside.  

The card below was sent to me, and had a great sentiment inside - "Sometimes in life there are no words, so sorry for your loss"

Another card I received had on the front, "We all grieve in our own way. We all heal in our own time." and the printed message inside was, "Sending caring thoughts to comfort you today."

The very last bit of a poem, When Great Trees Fall, by Maya Angelou:

They existed. They existed. We can be. Be and be better. For they existed.

At the moment, I am at a loss for words, unable to pick up a fountain pen and write, be it a diary/journal or a letter. The person I lost was a letter writer for most of her life. Towards the end, she was unable to even pick up a pen, having arthritis.... she had such beautiful handwriting, much neater than mine...

Stamps on Sunday #3

Earlier this month, Royal Mail issued some stamps commemorating 150 years of the Rugby Football Union. I bought some 2nd class and some 1st class stamps, plus one £2.55 stamp. I didn't bother with the £1.70 value. 

They aren't the most exciting of stamps, and I still have a few of the James Bond issue from 2020. I recently went to see the new film, No Time to Die. I like Hugh Dennis! 

On the foreign stamp front, I still get a lot of the chrysanthemum global forever stamps on incoming mail. I do like the postmark the USPS applied - it came out quite tidily. 

As I sent out some postcards on World Postcard Day through Postcrossing and they have mostly all arrived at their destinations, my address has been given out to Postcrossers. This stamp, one from Hungary fascinates me... There is a hole, the bit scrubbed out by the Hungarian resistance when Russia invaded and put a symbol in the flag. Timing was quite poignant because on a television programme, The Repair Shop, I watched just before one I wanted to view, there was a woman who brought in a teddy bear in need of some tender loving care, one that had been given to her as a refugee child from Hungary in an Austrian camp. 

Stationery Sunday #3

I write almost all of my letters these days with fountain pen ink. I regularly look at the various fountain pen/ink online stores to see if there is anything I would like. The answer is generally yes, but I refrain and restrain myself. 

However, I am seriously considering the red inkvent calendar from Diamine. I have seen short reviews of the inks in it and I am rather impressed & taken by the colours. But, as you can see from the picture above, I bought the blue inkvent calendar in 2019 and still haven't tried out all the inks. Should I take the plunge? I cannot risk running out of ink, what would I use to write letters with then?