Vaclav must have an unlimited supply of stamps from Japan (from the Czech Republic!). I'm not complaining. By now I'm a confirmed Japholic.
Japanese stamps are truly artistic. I've tried to do this lot justice by photographic them in an interesting way. Just take care though. If you do a Google image search using the term Japholic I've discovered that you may get more than you bargained for!
A few weeks back, I was contacted by a John Gerbes from Australia. He collects NZ stamps, and has a "fair few gaps" from 1995. That makes two of us! He offered me Australian, USA or WW stamps in return, and suggested that, if the exchanges become regular, that we'll be "onto a good thing". I'm all for that, John! We've agreed not to work from lists - life's too short for that. I asked for a handful of world-wide to start the ball kicking, and here they come . . .
John sent a few extra in case a few bad ones got through, or a duplicate. He also asked if I could find him the frog stamp from the 2007 native wildlife set. No problem.
It was nice to receive a right royal random mixture. About a third of them were still on paper, which makes the hobby seem a genuine one. If you collect only through paying for complete sets, where's the fun in that I ask you?
One of my paternal great great uncles is said never to have eaten an orange "because they come from Spain" a country against which the Netherlands fought a war back in the fifteenth century or thereabouts. I, on the other hand, in spite of their victory over Holland in the final of the 2010 Soccer World Cup, bear the Spanish no such animosity. But it was with a certain amount of poignancy that I received my first letter from the home country after that loss. 
Kees Prooij sent me a second selection of Dutch stamps - 150 this time. I've reciprocated with another batch of NZ stamps.
A few of the enclosed stamps featured 'voetball', so I arranged the entire selection according to colour on a field of organge (an old Vita Rich tee-shirt). They look like a winning team, don't they?
The other day, Mami, my wife, tells me, "I think I've got some some stamps for you, from a box of old letters I've been saving".
She gives me permission to go through them and take the envelopes, either to soak off the stamps, or to save them in their entirety. How wonderful is that?
Announcing the arrival of the No. 1 Baby trolley driver in the Northern hemisphere(I, of course, and the Suthern hemisphere champion!). Chris from Poland has sent me another envelope from his half of the world .
As usual, the envelope is impeccably packet with a return address label, protective postcards, a chatty letter, and a selection of stamps from small countries. Chris, tell me what you like in return this time.
"Now then," says SuperMario, "What exactly do we have here?" The other week Miwa's twin sister, Misa-chan had also given me a similar number. They get letters from home at least every couple of weeks, but often the post office uses stickers instead of stamps. You have to ask the staff if you prefer stamps.
