Women Mostly Sitting

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt for Woman at Work

2013: Europa - The Postman's Van

Postie at work in Ilulissat, West Greenland, some lucky person is getting a parcel.  This article on covers from Greenland's philatelic postal centres has a photo taken from where the post van is parked.

This looks like a production line for the popular Dinky toys, made by Meccano, today highly collectable.  The company also  produced mechanical construction and Hornby train sets.  After numerous take overs the Liverpool factory closed in 1979.  Today different kinds of Meccano sets are made in France and China.

Female workers using comptometers, Vickers Armstong, 1950s

A human computer, workers using comptometers, the first key driven machine for adding and calculations. High speeds were attained by skilled operators.  Vickers Armstrong, an engineering, shipbuilding and armaments company, after many changes today operates as BAE Systems, the UK's largest manufacturer.

Sheep Flocks

See It on A Postcard's  Thursday Postcard Hunt theme is "On the Farm"

although these sheep are safely grazing on "Parson's Meadow". The sender of the card (Kate) didn't have enough room on the back for her full message

which was a card swap with her friend with the familiar refrain "I would have sent one sooner but I have been very busy"   The card is from some time between 1907-1917 and here is the card's

destination, the 18th Century Langley Old Hall, all the lawn is missing is a few sheep

but perhaps not as many as this. The flock is by the River Findhorn, Scotland in 1938 and it looks as though the sheep may be deciding whether to follow the post van.

Yellow

 

1947: Flowers (Design - Hans Fischer)

The joy of early spring flowers, I like how this stamp hints at the darkness of winter and the bright yellow of sunny days ahead. This is an Alpine Primrose which I read is now a rare resident of the limestone Alps.

1968: Flowers

Fast forward to summer and the Heliopsis which I love and is sometimes unkindly called the false sunflower so

2000: Millennium - Tree and Leaf

here is the real thing although most spectacular when there are hundreds of sunflowers in a field.

2008: Grains (Design Beatrice Wurgler) + 2007: Birds (Design - Eva Weber)

Golden fields of barley are wonderful in a different way with their quiet rustling in the warm winds of summer. If one walked through the fields a Great Tit might be spotted although is more likely to be seen in woodlands and at the garden feeder.

2013: Europa - Postman's Van (Design - Gunter Gamroth)

Yellow is a popular postal colour and how inviting this image is, it makes me want to jump into the driving seat.  The vehicle is Lloyd Electrowagen of 1911 used for parcel delivery in towns and suburbs.  The German Postal Service continued to use electric vehicles until the 1960s, indeed some of them were so robust that they had been running for 40 years. Today Deutsche Post return to that era in spirit as they hope to have 60% of their vehicles running electrically by 2030.

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Yellow - visit See It On A Postcard  

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Ukraine

1918: Definitive

Symbol of the Ukrainian Republic, seen on our screens today and of course on stamps.

Allegory of Ukraine

These were issued in yet another turbulent period of Ukraine's history. The collapse of the Russian monarchy and the resulting civil war with multiple governments vying for control in Ukraine.

 

Fast forward to the 21st Century and the Europa Postman Van series. Here we see a scene from 1953 with a postman and his Moskvich 400. The modern postal van is a MAZ5440 built in Minsk, Belarus. These stamps are from a booklet which included a map

 

 

Look on it and weep for a mere year later than this issue Russia had invaded Crimea and wished for more.

2015: Kyiv's Transport (Design Victor Zinchenko)

Kyiv's funicular which connects the upper historic town to the lower commercial neighborhood, ride up a steep hill in 3 minutes.

2017: Fire Transport (Design Valery Rukdenko)

I've wondered about this stamp of a fire tank but now because of the war I know about the mud season in Ukraine when the snow melts then this vehicle makes a whole lot more sense.  Both these stamps were on a Postcrossing card sent many years ago from Marina who played the mandolin.  She told me she lived in the south of Ukraine in a town I had never heard of called Melitopol but sadly we all know that name now. God bless you Marina wherever you are.

Booklet Cover

 

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Ukraine - See It On A Postcard

On the Road

I'm away on the highways and byways of England passing postboxes on the way south so there will be a slight pause of posts here.  I leave you with a mail van waiting to cross the Scourer or Fisherman's Bridge over the Leeds-Liverpool Canal.

En Route

1974: 100th Anniversary UPU

Equatorial Guinea joined the Universal Postal Union in 1970, just in time to celebrate its 100th anniversary in 1974.  Their stamp set featured a romantic idea of carrying post with horses, canoes, llamas, sledges, mountain climbing and of course camels with a large 'correos' bag.

2013: Europa: The Postman's Van (Designer: Jaan Saar)

Estonia Post kept it real with horse power for the Europa theme of 2013.  The FDC features a 1960 mail lorry built by Tartu Utode Remondi, a company which operated from 1949-1997 in various guises. In 1960 it operated under the name Tartu Automobile Service Factory Number 3, nothing says Soviet more with a name like that.  The mail lorry seems to be based on the company's GAZ51, a 23 seater bus,  which they manufactured in various other guises such as bread lorries, and mobile workshops for people like hairdressers and shoemakers travelling around rural districts.

The stamps show a government stage coach dating from 1840 and one of today's modern vans. I think there is a piece of whimsy on the stamp as the titles seem to say old stage coach and modern stagecoach.  The span of time on the stamps would fit nicely into the existence the Estonian History Museum which celebrated its 150th Anniversary in 2014

I like the years rolling by on the stamp background.  The sword was found as part of some excavated grave goods and is dated to the 11th-12th Century. The stamp sheets have have little artifacts from the museum on the selvedges which I do not own but I have the next best thing

2014: 150th Anniversary of the Estonian History Museum

this FDC showing an entrance ticket from 1907 and a display of objects from the Estonian History Museum.  The designer is Lembit Lõhmus,  known both for his work on many stamps and also engraved bookplates. His design of a silhouetted map of Estonia which features on the Estonian euro coin was chosen to be used after a popular vote in a national poll.  

Sunday Stamps II this week has arrived at the letter E - for Equatorial Guinea, Estonia and Europa - exit to See It On A Postcard.    

Love

What more appropriate card for this weekend than these two loved up cats forming a heart. The card called simply 'Love' came from Yulia in the Ukraine who attached these stamps.

One of my favourite Europa stamps from 2013 featuring a Moskvich 400 complete with postman collecting mail in 1953 and a little cottage in the background. Coming up to date the other stamp of the set is a large postal van, the MAZ-5440 which are built in Minsk, Belarus.  All in all this is a perfect set of stamps for me because the other stamp shows one of my favourite trees, the Rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) or Mountain Ash which can be found from sea level in gardens to high on mountain sides, striking in autumn when its branches are full of brightly coloured berries.  For its more magical aspects see here  (Stamp first issued in 2012 as  part of the Flora -Trees series) 

Ski and Microcars

"1923 Scania-Vabis Post Bus". Åland Exhibition Card 2013

My first thought on seeing this Swedish Post Bus was how I would love to get behind the wheel, although to be perfectly honest it was really my second thought because the first one was - whoa no way - what is that contraption?  What would have skis on the front. half track rear wheels and be topped it off with little curtains on the windows?  The answer was a 1923 Post Bus manufactured by  Scania-Vabis, a Swedish truck and car manufacturer from 1911 to 1968.  There was no way snowy conditions were going to stop the Swedish post getting through.

This is an  Åland Islands Exhibition Card from when they took part in the  October 2013 Norrtälje Stamp Fair in Sweden.  For each Stamp Fair Åland Post attend they produce a unique Maximum Card, which I think is normally on the Europa theme of the year, and of course last year it was the Postman's Van.  I seem to remember that this year they are doing clock towers which chimes nicely with this year's theme of musical instruments.

"2012 Ligier Be Sun". Åland Exhibition Card 2013

For the Paris Salon d'Automne Stamp Fair (which takes place every year in the first half of November) Åland Post featured a100% electric vehicle the 'Be Sun', manufactured by Ligier, one of whose specialities is microcars.  With a top speed of 45 km/h it means that in some parts of Europe the Be Sun can be driven without a licence. Costing about €10,000 it can carry 200 kg in its rear pod so plenty of room for post (they also do a pick up version). Ligier sold 110 of the ones portrayed on the post card to the French Post Office.

Going back in time to some early microcars -

these made their journey back to the Isle of Man this year, the place where they were originally manufactured by Peel Engineering. Their destination was the Manx Transport Heritage Museum based in the town of Peel hence the event name, 'Peels to Peel' Festival'.

Owners of the P50, Viking and Trident models travelled from the mainland to join up with those on the island and a full schedule of events took place over three days to commemorate fifty years since most of the Peel cars were made. (The stamps used on the cover were a set originally issued in 2006).  Peel Engineering were a boat builder who started to work with a 'new' material called glass-fibre in the 1950s.  Being based in the Isle of Man it is no surprise that as glass fibre developed they started to produce a successful line of  motor cycle fairings including ones for the motor bike legend Geoff Duke. After developing an unsuccessful three wheeler car prototype in 1955 Peels tried again in 1962 to target the city small car market and designed a single seater called the P50 (28p stamp above), the first production car ever manufactured on the Isle of Man which also currently holds the world record for the smallest automotive ever to go into production (54 inches (137 cm) long and 41 inches (104.1 cm) wide, weighing 130 lb (59 kg).  It is thought that about 28 of these survive today.  Encouraged by the sale of the P50 Peel Engineering developed a two-seater model known as the 'Trident' (31p stamp above) which had the same 50cc engine as the P50.  Those of us of a certain age would call these bubble cars.  Today about 30 Tridents still survive.      

Around 1966 Peel Engineering developed a fibre glass body shell aimed at the 'kit car' market and latched onto the fact that a large number of BMC Minis were starting to suffer badly from corrosion. The 'Viking Sport' (38p stamp) used the running gear and components from a standard Mini but had a Sports GT body.  Today the Viking Sport is a very rare car with only seven known surviving.  The 41p stamp shows a fibreglass mini built under licence in Chile for the manufacturer of the mini (BMC), who contracted with Peels for their expertise in fibreglass to provide production tooling for the plant.  

The early days are shown on the high value stamps - the 54p stamp shows the prototype that never went into production.  The doors were pivoted in the bottom rear corner, a third door gave access to a flat 16 cubic feet boot space which also had a trap door for access to the engine (a 322cc British Anzani twin cylinder two stroke), and that is not all for it had a foot well fitted to allow two children to be carried behind the main seats. The P1000 on the 94p stamp was Peels first production body shell, a 'kit car' designed for fitting to a Ford 8/10 or Morris 8 chassis, in all about 500 were sold.

No rust and 100 miles to the gallon what do you think? See a Trident and a P50 being driven here

An entry to Viridian Postcard's Sunday Stamps theme of Automobiles and Motor Transport here

Delivering the Mail

Coming out of Holker Hall gardens having enjoyed the rhododendrons in full flower I stopped to take a photo of the Victorian postbox and with perfect timing postie parked his van across the road, walked down the hill  and towards the door of this house in Cark post in hand.  My cup runneth over.

The Postal Van

Emilyan Stankev has drawn a table full of coloured pencils surrounding toy vans, perhaps the little boy is sending a  letter is to thank whoever gave him them. The Bulgarian post logo is on the vans of which on the 65 leva - a Citroen Jumper 2.2 and on the 1.50 leva - Citroen Berlingo 1.6 HDI

So now the letter is written time to post it

2004: Letter Boxes

This red cast iron post box appearing on the Malta stamp is a legacy of the British period in the Maltese islands, its royal cipher and crown familiar in the UK.  There are 160 surviving boxes in Malta and they have all been given protective status.

But back to motorised transport and thanks to Eeva who used these two Finland stamps on her envelope I have the stamp that won the Jury Prize for best 2013 Europa stamp (the one on the left) complete with postmen in those wonderful uniforms. I don't know what marque of postal bus it is but they were nicknamed the "Yellow Speeders". I would have loved to have ridden on one of those.  The Finnish Postal Bus service started in 1921 using a Benz Gagganau truck with wooden benches and a roof to give shelter from the rain, the one shown on the stamp looks much more sophisticated.   The first route was in Lapland and proved popular so soon expanded and by 1939 there were 60 route, the war interrupted the service and when they started up again in 1946 new routes opened and by its peak in 1971 there were 222 routes and 420 buses  The other stamp is of course a modern postie and VW van.

Royal Mail have hidden away their Europa postal van entry as part of a 'Workhorses'  miniature sheet so thank goodness Guernsey Post have risen to the occasion and show vans on their rounds starting with, top row L to R for the

• Guernsey letter; one of the 74 delivery rounds across the Baliwick with a Daihatsu Hijet van

• Guernsey large letter; is the iconic Citroen 2CV La Poste van outside a Parisian café

• UK letter; shows a Morris Van delivering in the Lake District which is I find doubly exciting because that is near where I live.

Second Row:

• Int Letter;-  a Deutsche Bundespost VW Beetle in the Bavarian countryside

• UK Large letter; - a Swedish Posten AB Kalmar Tjoven (DAF) van in a Stockholm street.

• Int Letter 40g;  - USPS (which operates the largest civilian vehicle fleet in the world with an estimated 218,684 vehicles) Studebaker Zip van delivering to a mail box in an American suburb.

An entry to Viridian Postcard's Sunday Stamps theme - The Post

Postal Round

Postie on his rounds in the Cartmel Valley, Cumbria. . I'm not usually fast enough to retrieve my camera and snap but on this occasion I was ready.  Not only that but we continued our walk down this road through the woods (which as it was May were full of bluebells), over the hill and  fields and voila

  it seems we were following postie's round. 

Communication

The theme today in celebration of St Patrick's Day is Irish or green stamps, so with the first stamp of this set I've managed to combine the two themes. It looks as though our postman has a long road to ride. This set was issued in 1983 for the UN World Communication Year,  its theme the development of communication infrastructure but also communication between people.  I imagine the satellite dish portrayed was cutting edge in 1983.  The following year the Irish postal system was reorganised as a state owned limited company and  twenty five years later An Post celebrated its Silver Jubilee with ten stamps in a self adhesive booklets

unfortunately I only have one but maybe that long and winding road would seem shorter barrelling along in a green van.  I don't have many Irish stamps so I'll end with a postcard which fits the theme.

Valentia Island, one of the most westerly parts of Ireland was the point of the first commercially viable transatlantic telegraph cable which ran from Foilhommerun Bay to the wonderfully named Heart's Content in Newfoundland 1866.  The first transatlantic cable of 1858 had failed but it did carry the first official message across the Atlantic from Queen Victoria to the US President James Buchanan. 

So on this St Patrick's Day - Sláinte chugat (Good health to you).

An entry to Viridian Postcard's Sunday Stamps theme of Irish or Green stamps

La Post Van

French postal van outside the Bar l'Arnica in the village of Tinteniac, the Isle et Vilaine area of Brittany. The village is close to the pretty Ille et Rance Canal.  Postie was in a hurry delivering to the bar, perhaps because it was a Saturday and more importantly for a Frenchman, midday. Somewhere 'dejeuner' was waiting.

Join Gemma at Greyscale Territory for the Weekend Mailbox meme. Post a photo or anything that relates to mailboxes or mail.

Postal Van

Royal Mail Van in the valley of Weasdale. 

This picture is a celebration of the universal postage rate, no matter where you live a letter or parcel can be delivered from anywhere in the world.

Weasdale is sometimes called a secret valley and one of Cumbria's Howgill Fells 2000 footers is here with amazing panoramas from the top with little effort, not on this day for the low cloud covered all of the Weasdale Horseshoe.


Got a post of a photo of anything that relates to mailboxes or post?  Then join the Weekend Mailbox meme hosted by Gemma at Greyscale Territory.