Current Affairs 15.11.1967

(10c) 50^th Anniversary Cogwheel & Swiss Week badge.

(20c) Hour glass under a stylised sun. 50th anniv. of the Foundation for the Aged.

150th Anniversary of Safety Matches 3.12.2004

150th Anniversary of Safety Matches.

Summer Stamps 6.4.1976

(40+20c) The European hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus), also known as the West European hedgehog or common hedgehog, is a hedgehog species found in Europe, from Iberia and Italy northwards into Scandinavia. It is a generally common and widely distributed species that can survive across a wide range of habitat types. It is a well-known species, and a favourite in European gardens, both for its endearing appearance and its preference for eating a range of garden pests. While populations are currently stable across much of its range, it is thought to be declining severely in Great Britain.

(46+20c) Agricultural education: book

(55+20c) Social security: crowd of people

(75+25c) The common frog (Rana temporaria), also known as the European common frog, European common brown frog, or European grass frog, is a semi-aquatic amphibian of the family Ranidae, found throughout much of Europe as far north as Scandinavia and as far east as the Urals, except for most of Iberia, southern Italy, and the southern Balkans. The farthest west it can be found is Ireland, where it has long been thought, erroneously, to be an entirely introduced species. They are also found in Asia, and eastward to Japan.

Germany, Millennium, 1999-2000, Astronomy 15.1.2000

The Millennium stamp was issued by Germany to commemorate the New millennium.  

Thank you Merja.

See new blogs

While you are waiting for the next post on this blog, you might as well visit the following blogs:-

http://mystampsandfdcs.blogspot.in/ 

  

&

http://gunsinstamps.blogspot.in

To My Dear Friend from Myanmar

To My Dear Friend from Myanmar.

You have been visiting my blogs everyday a few times. I am very much obliged as this does encourage me a lot. I will be very happy to correspond with you on email and clear any doubts that you may have. 

My email address is kaprevijay@gmail.com.

The Good Life

Set on the rugged, beautiful and unspoiled beaches of the South Coast in the Eastern Cape, the Wild Coast Sun Resort and Casino is a popular Sun International destination offering exceptional Wild Coast accommodation. Visitors are attracted to the Wild Coast Sun, not only for its natural splendour, but also for the fabulous facilities and world-class golf course that can be found at the venue.

The Wild Coast Sun is set on 750 hectares of natural bush between the Mtamvuna and Mzamba Rivers with gorgeous accommodation overlooking the Indian Ocean. Although it is in the Eastern Cape, it’s only a kilometre south of KwaZulu-Natal, so it receives a lot of support from local KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape residents. In 2011, the Wild Coast Sun underwent a major refurbishment to improve the casino, restaurants and bars and introduce a new water park, Wild Waves. This fine example of Wild Coast accommodation caters to a wide variety of different people, from tourists, to local day visitors, conference delegates and those just passing through.

The stamps and the FDC were issued on 25.5.1983 as part of the Tourism drive in Transkei. The 10c stamp depicts the Hotel Complex at Mzamba. The 20c stamp shows the Beach Scene at Mzamba. The 25c stamp shows people at the Casino in Mzamba and finally the 40c stamp shows the Carousel at Mzamba. All together there's lots of fun - the Good Life.

Thanks Maria. Expect visitors soon.

Sun City luxury casino and resort

Sun City is a luxury casino and resort, situated in the North West Province of South Africa. It is located between the Elands River and the Pilanesberg, about two hours' drive from Johannesburg, near the city of Rustenburg. The complex borders the Pilanesberg Game Reserve.

Sun City was developed by the hotel magnate Sol Kerznet as part of his Sun International group of properties. It was officially opened on 7 December 1979; at the time it was located in the Bantustan of Bophuthatswana. Sun City featured a large auditorium which seated 6,230.

As Bophuthatswana had been declared an independent state by South Africa's apartheid government (although unrecognized as such by any other country), it could provide entertainment such as gambling and topless revue shows which were banned in South Africa. These factors, as well as its relatively close location to the large metropolitan areas of Pretoria and Johannesburg, ensured that Sun City soon became a popular holiday and weekend destination. The UN imposed a cultural boycott on South Africa in condemnation of apartheid. Despite this, many famous performers chose to flout the boycott and perform at the venue, such as Frank Sinatra(1981), Paul Anka, Status Quo, Rod Stewart(July 1983), and Elton John (October 1983). British rock band Queen's series of performances at the venue in October 1984 in transgression of the boycott caused considerable controversy, prompting criticism in the British music press, a fine from the Musicians' Union and their inclusion on the United Nations' blacklisted artists. Following the criticism, Queen strongly defended their decision but donated to a school for the deaf and blind to prove their philanthropic values.

In 1985, E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt made the venue the focus of his music-industry activist group, Artists United Against Apartheid. Forty-nine top recording artists collaborated on a song called "Sun City", in which they pledged they would never perform at the resort because of their opposition to apartheid. Additionally, Simple Minds included the song as part of a live medley on their Live in the City of Light double album in 1987.

Post-apartheid Sun City has continued to flourish since Bophutatswana was re-incorporated in the new South Africa in 1994.

The resort has four hotels, namely, Sun City Hotel, Cascades Hotel, The Cabanas and the Palace of the Lost City. In addition to the four hotels, the complex includes time-share facilities called "The Sun City Vacation Club" which is a popular self-catering facility.

Sun City also has two international-standard 18-hole golf courses, the Gary Player Country Club and the Lost City Golf Course, both designed by Gary Player. The Gary Player Country Club is home to the prestigious Nedbank Golf Challenge (formerly the Nedbank Million Dollar Golf Challenge) that is held annually and sees some of the best golfing talent from all over the world competing for the title. The Lost City Golf Course is noted for the 38 crocodiles in the water feature of the 13th hole.

The Sun City resort has hosted various concerts and events, including the Miss South Africa and Miss South Africa Teen Pageant. It also hosted Miss World pageant for five times, from 1992-1995 and 2001. These pageants take place annually in Sun City’s Super Bowl Arena and the Valley of Waves. Also held in the Valley of Waves is the Spring break summer festival which sees flocks of holiday-making students from all over the country gather for up to 5 days of fun in the sun. The resort was also the site of the Sun City Agreement. In 2001, Sun City was the site of the 2nd IIFA Awards. Held at the Superbowl Arena, it honoured both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in Bollywood, for that year.

The four stamps show the facilities available at the Sun City Resort. The 5c stamp shows the Sun City Hotel and Casino, the 10c stamp shows a golfer at the Gary Player Country Club, the 15c stamp shows the Casino and the 20c stamp shows the City Extravaganza at the night Club.

Thank you Maria for this lovely card. I’d love to visit Su City some day.

Not Only a Bell, but on 11-12-13-14

This cover with the lovely minisheet was sent to me by my friend Dr. Avinash Jagtap from Switzerland. I will tell you more about the stamp in the following paragraphs. But, first look at the post mark. Yes, guys it is not just dated 11-12-13 but 11-12-13-14.  Remarkable really! Thank you Sir, for this wonderful cover.

Now, Stamp Day 2013 was celebrated  from 13 to 15 December under the umbrella of aarphila13 in the “bell town” of Aarau – definitely an appropriate venue for presenting stamps with a festive acoustic flavour in the run up to Christmas.

No, Aarau does not have more bells than any other town in Switzerland. It owes its “bell town” nickname to the bell-making industry that once flourished there. The oldest recorded bell made in Canton Aargau’s capital dates back to 1367 and still rings out from Fribourg’s cathedral steeple to this day. It was made where the the firm of H. Rüetschi AG, one of Switzer-land’s last and oldest bell foundries, now stands. Rüetschi bells do not just hang in countless Swiss steeples but peal all over the world. One of the most famous sets of bells made in Aarau now hangs in London where it was a Swiss Centre landmark in the 1980s. Late in 2011, this reno-vated carillon was installed as a free-standing structure advertising Switzerland on the city’s famed Leicester Square. But bells from Aarau continue to delight the ears of innumerable tourists at Berne’s Zytglogge clock tower day in, day out.

Has anybody ever wondered what a church bell weighing several tonnes has in common with a feather-weight stamp? Nothing visual, that’s for sure. Yet bells and stamps can be seen as soul mates. Both artistically combine aesthetics with accuracy. And both seemingly disparate elements are an acknowledged part of Switzerland’s cultural heritage. Reason enough, therefore, for Swiss Post to choose this motif for Stamp Day in Aarau and give bells pride of place on the specially designed postcard and miniature sheet. So collectors and stamp fans can look for- ward to a resonant philatelic event. The designer of this lovely mini sheet is Martin Eberhard.

100th Birth Anniversary of John Ringling 2.5.1966

This stamp was released on 2.5.1966 at Delavan, WI to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of John Ringling and to honor the American Circus industry. John Nicholas Ringling (May 31, 1866 – December 2, 1936) is the most well-known of the seven Ringling brothers, five of whom merged the Barnum & Bailey Circus with their own Ringling Brothers Circus to create a virtual monopoly of traveling circuses and helped shape the circus into what it is today. He was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 1987. Let me give you a brief about the Ringling Brothers. The Ringling Brothers Circus was a circus founded in the United States in 1884 by five of the seven Ringling Brothers: Albert (1852–1916), August (1854–1907), Otto (1858–1911), Alfred T. (1862–1919), Charles (1863–1926), John (1866–1936), and Henry (1869–1918). In 1907 it acquired the Barnum & Bailey Circus, merging them in 1919 to become Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus, promoted as The Greatest Show on Earth.

We all know that children love to watch fun shows like magic shows, trick shows, and other entertaining shows that we have in our local place. These places could be a movie theatre, Disney Land, giant aquariums, and other entertaining parks. But one thing that is not common to many places is the circus show.  But, what is a circus? A circus is actually known to be a traveling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals (both pet and wild), musicians, trapeze acts, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists, and other stunts oriented artists that are included in the show. 

Let me share with you my personal experiences in watching live circus shows. It was many decades ago when I was a kid, that one of the circus companies The Great Rayman Circus visited Delhi. My parents decided to buy tickets for all of us so we could watch and experience a circus. The circus company stayed in our place for a week and we watched second to the last day. The entire experience is still fresh in my mind up to now. I can still remember every detail. If I have one memory of my childhood that I can’t forget, it’s my experience of watching circus show live. It was my first time to see real lions, tigers, bears, elephants, and monkeys. Seeing those animals at my age was really a great experience for me. I love animals and that was my first time to see real wild animals, but of course they were caged for the safety of everybody. As we went inside this giant tent where the show was to be performed, my heart was really beating fast.

What I can remember circus’ are the different kind of tricks, and some of them are still being performed today like the sword swallowing tricks, fire breathing, juggling, unicyclists, tightrope walking, acrobats. My favorite used to be the trained animals. I’ve seen lions and tigers in one cage together and the trainer was giving them commands that they need to follow.  I could go on and on about the circus!

Thank you Dear Merja for this lovely cover.

Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties

The development of traditional Chinese furniture reached its zenith during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. Furniture in the Ming style combines simple, unvarnished design with precise, scientific framework, while the Qing furniture features exquisite carvings, diverse designs, and various decorative elements. Tables, made with excellent craftsmanship, compose an important part of the Ming and Qing furniture. Straight-end table for Chinese painting and calligraphy (pingtouhua'an) usually features a large rectangular surface wide enough to hold "treasures of the study" like the brush, the ink, the paper, and the inkstone. Square table (fangzhuo), as its name suggests, is a framework with a square surface. Besides a diversity of designs, this type also varies in size – some large enough to seat eight adults and thus known as Great Baxianzhuo (literally "table for eight immortals") while smaller ones called Lesser Baxianzhuo. And if you are thinking of adding these to your rooms, remember each of them costs a packet!!!

China National Philatelic Corporation will issue four FDCs, a souvenir sheet cover, and a commemorative cancellation respectively. Harry sent me this FDC dated 9.6.2012.

Fish and Chips

In one of the previous blogs, I had displayed a se-tennant set of 5 ships engaged in the different processes in deep-sea fishing. But, I forgot to mention, the not so deep sea fishing efforts of some of us, who lived on Ruski Ostrov (Russian Island) just off the city of Vladivostok. From about the 15^th of December to almost the 15^th of February the Sea of Japan that entered our sheltered bay use to freeze up. It was at such times that we used to stroll on the ice with our more experienced Russian friends. The idea was to walk out on the ice to a distance between 100 to 300 meters from the shore, place a wooden stool, and drill two or three holes around us with a special drill. Prepare our fishing rods with bait, and wait for the fish to do the rest. And the rest they did do, and most enthusiastically at that. For, within an hour one could easily collect upto around 10 to 12 healthy and fit specimens of around 18 inches in length and about 8 inches in diameter. Some called it tuna and some carp. But, to tell you frankly, I never was really interested in the label, all I was interested in was how the fried fish tasted. And tasted real good it did, with crudely cut and fried potatoes. I say crudely, for the simple reason that the outside temperature was mostly around minus 20 C, and any activity involving cleaning and cutting involved removing our thick gloves, and that was daunting. A true epicurean was bound to frown at our efforts, but, we residents of ‘Pyervi Korpus’ (Barrack No. 1) loved it. It was a change from the horse, whale, hammerhead shark and any other unknown beast that happened to unfortunately land up in our plates. This used to happen sometimes if the mutton train was late due to inclement weather. I’ll tell you about these unfortunate animals and fish species and how and why they landed up on our plates, and what they tasted like, another day, as it’s a tale by itself. But, I must admit that whereas the hammerhead shark was edible, the sturdy farm horse wasn’t. I know all this is far from philately. But remember, one cant just keep licking stamps, one has to eat too ;-))