Finland on Land and Sea

Sent a postcard to Finland?  Here are two postman, one from the early 20th century and the other in modern uniform who may be delivering your card right now .  The stamp was issued in 2006 as the Postal Officials Union and the Postal Union merged in June 2005 to form the Postal and Logistics Union (P its 30,000 members celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Postal Union (PAU) with this stamp in 2006.

An even older anniversary took place in 2012, that of the 150th anniversary of the  VR Finnish Railways. The stamps shape is to give the effect of motion, I love the driver leaning out and looking ahead.  The steam locomotive is a VR Class Hr1, a passenger express of which 27 were built, a few of which still survive as heritage trains. Their nickname was Ukko-Pekka which translates as either  Grandpa Pekka or Old Man Pekka after Pehr Evind Svinhufvud,  the first head of state of an independent Finland.  Built of course to burn coal but due to a shortage in 1945 birch wood was used which meant a larger chimney was needed to extinguish the wood sparks so one was fitted temporarily.

From the land to the sea. These stamps were part of a Joint Nordic Publication theme of "Life at Sea" and all maritime Scandinavia celebrated the theme with different stamps. The stamp on the left shows the Finnish Border Guard Patrol Vessel 'Merikarhu'  which also helps the Institute of Marine Research to monitor the water in the Gulf of Finland. The the on the right is the Finnish lifeboat 'Jenny Wihuri' for those in peril on the sea.   If you were sailing past the  Åland Islands, an autonomous region of Finland,

these large buoys may be spotted. This was the third, and last, part of a series on buoys. The artist, Allan Palmer, has featured the buoys in winter when ice makes for difficult shipping. The stamps show cardinal buoys which are used in maritime pilotage to indicate possible hazards and the direction of safe water. As can be seen on the cover, Cardinal marks indicate the direction of safety by points of a compass relative to the type of mark, a ship is making safe passage on the stamps.

An entry to Viridian Postcard's Sunday Stamps theme of - Finland