Oranje without oranges

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?

Old love letters

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?

In return, I bake her these chocolate-chip cookies!

(I tell a lie - someone else presented someone else with that gift. I've just stolen the idea.)

North-hemisphere champion

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.

Too kind - two of a kind

Here's Miwa-san, presenting me with a handful of mainly Japanese stamps that she carefully cut from her mail especially for me. Doumo arigato!

"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.

I forgot to take a picture of Misa at the time . . . but the twins are identical! I'll take a picture of the one or two stamps that I remember and merge the two sisters in this post.

Designer stamps

When an artist friend sends you some stamps you feel obliged to write it up in an artistic manner! Ryoko, to who congratulations are due, had saved up some stamps for me from letters she'd received from around the world. She joins that select group of friends and family who support me in my hobby.

Apart from the stamps and letter there was also an interesting booklet which looks at the background behind the designs of British stamps for the year 1993. Straight into my little library! And the stamps go straight into the soak.

A nice little bunch, ne?

World Cup soccer (sort of)

Bev is Australian. She lives on a bit of land outside of the city. It's quieter there, which suits her. And having a hobby helps also. Bev has been collecting stamps for most of her life. She found my contact details on All Stamps Paradise, which she is using for the first time.

To get the ball rolling, she sent me a couple of dozen of stamps from a quartet of countries. I'm going to run with that theme and analyze the stamps from a footballer's point of view. We'll imagine that Norway, Germany, Finland and the Netherlands have reached the semi-finals (at the time of writing, Germany and the Netherlands actually have). As a fair and impartial observer I'm going to referee/judge those stamps to decide which team wins the 2010 World Cup.Norway wins the kick-off, but there's a long way to until the final whistle. They're a team with a lot of experience (receding hairlines and baldness) and a fine pedigree with their numeral stamps of which there are four. Their control of the ball is moderate (5 or so stamps have a good circular postmark). They get a yellow card for a repeat-stamp infringement. But they are awarded 3 free kicks for some very fine stamps: the 3.50 and 4.60 in the second bottom row, and the middle stamp in the bottom row of a kayaker.

The Netherlands, as might be expected from a team that invented 'total football' have an unorthodox formation. They are led by Johan Kruijf, the Van Gogh of soccer. Their play is more playful - they seem to be in a merry-making mode (stamps featuring clowns and people in fancy dress). They have fantastic ball control as about 10 of the stamps sport a circular postmark. But no one player really stands out, and the numeral and Queen stamps have a dull day on the field.

Much is expected from the Germans. They have a solid team (stamps that feature buildings). However, they are a little unsure of themselves (it is hard to read their country's name in the typically small font used. Again, like the Norwegians, they have a few older players. The commemorative stamps indicate that they may be feeling overwhelmed by a sense of history. They played well against the US of A and Japan, but today is another day.

An upset! The Finnish team starts their game facing the wrong way and, as a result, score an early own goal. But they regroup and recover quickly. Four stamps have a sports theme, and several stamps have excellent graphics. They go on to win deservedly, the first time ever that Finland wins the World Cup.

The mail gets through . . . but only just

Recently I've had several letters from the United States of America - eBay sales, to tell the truth - arrive with damage to the stamps that were used as postage - but not to the stamps enclosed, thank heavens! 

Why is that? Are the dimension restrictions tougher over there? Are the letters restricted to a stricter thickness, obliged to forcefully squeeze themselves through a narrow and uncompromising slot? Here you can witness some of the evidence.

In the top photo it looks as if some postie has gone to town with his marker pen. I didn't know that felt could do such damage.