Weird Stamp of the Day/Week/Month

Here are stamps you are unlikely to see on post
or stamps that make me go, "Eh?"

No, not stamp blocks or miniature sheets but individual stamps that, for some reason or another, the stamp issuing authorities thought would be a good idea (ker-ching!).

I will only post one at a time otherwise this blog would rapidly stop as the stamps in question, thankfully, are not that common.

They are not in any order.  They are just stamps that I have come across at some time or other.

They are just odd stamps.  I do not mean to imply that they are not worth collecting or that the issuing authority has lost the plot, but they just get you thinking, "Is this really a stamp?".

So, the dubious honour of being first falls to this item from Royal Mail:

This is a "3D" stamp. The scientist/mathematician in me screams out, "stop ****** saying that!", but we will move on.

It harks back to some "freebies" dished out by ESSO in the '70s maybe, or free in corn flakes?

Anyway, the stamps celebrate the science fiction of Gerry Anderson. Men of a certain age go all dewey-eyed at the memory of him and all his shows in the '60s. This particular block, issued in early 2011, shows Thunderbirds 1, 2, 3 and 4 on a background showing Thunderbird 5.  If you tilt the card, the image on the stamps changes.

The reason for the "Eh?" is that this is actually 4 stamps, supposedly separable. The total cost of stamps is just under £3.00 - a bit much for your average letter. You would need to be Desperate Dan (another '60s reference sneaks in) to get the stamps out to use them individually.

Nice enough design and probably appeals to those "certain aged" men and any young philatelists caught up in the re-invented Thunderbirds' movie. It is good that it celebrates something a bit more recent than some 300-year old dead king.

Royal Mail is not the only stamp issuing authority to dip their toes into this weird stuff, as you shall see later.

That is it - as always, feel free to comment if you agree, think I should "bile meh heid", or just want to throw in your tuppenceworth.

Holiday Gripes (2)

 R A N T!

 

1. I had a fantastic holiday.

But: whatever has happened to manners/etiquette?

I mean, the hotel have laid out tongs for people to pick up their food but the number I saw picking it up with fingers was unbelievable. And then delicately picking at their nose with a false-nailed pinky! I saw people raking through a tray of burgers just looking for the one that they liked the look of. Maybe they thought there was a dead rat amongst the beef.

Whatever is wrong with sitting down at the table for your meal? Why the need to start eating  as you walk from the buffet back to your seat?

This was all in a 4* hotel, not a cheap and cheerful B and B.

2. My holiday couldn't have been better.

Adults complained about the lack of food. If it flew, walked, crawled or grew in the ground, it was there for eating but all they did was pig out on the children's nuggets and chips!

3. The entertainment was great.

People complained that the "Germans" hogged all the sunbeds - well, sorry, but if you can't get out of your scratcher until gone 11 am, what exactly do you expect?

4. Weather was excellent.

Staff worked their butts off but still some people complain because they weren't served first. Come on people, a delay of a minute or so for your glass of beer won't kill you.

5. The staff were friendly above and beyond.

People complained that they couldn't get "proper" tea, the beds were too hard, the pillows were too soft - not like "we" get back in England. The TV channels were all foreign rubbish. The food a bit on the foreign side.

Again, sorry people, but if you don't like it, get back to England and leave us who like Johnny Foreigner to have an enjoyable time.

I thought the "foreignness" of a holiday was part of the experience. I thought catching a bit of "foreign" tv was an interesting pastime. Aren't there TV programmes in the UK that just show foreign TV commercials? I thought getting away from the daily grind was one of the reasons people went on holiday.

I watched people walk across the front of the entertainment - I saw (and heard) people ignore announcements so they could keep on with whatever they were doing - even when the announcements concerned the safety of their children.

6. Like I have tried to emphasise - I had a great time.

RANT over for the time being

Holiday Gripes (1)

Some people can't half complain - and I'm talking the Brits here. Quite possibly there are the same old moaning minnies in other nationalities but it's the Brits that I know of.

Why is it that when they visit a foreign land all they can do is moan about the number of other foreigners there? And why they are usually Germans! Good grief - they even moan about the Germans in Germany.

Why is it that they have to comment on whether the locals can speak any English? Why not learn a few words of Spanish or French or whatever? Why is the English fluency of the locals so important?

Why do these tourist Brits have to compare themselves with other foreigners in different hotels and gripe that they (the Brits) are being treated differently?

Why grumble about the location of the hotel? Wasn't it obvious from the brochure that there was a walk to the beach?

Why do they feel the need to comment on whether the hotel is 2,3,4 or 5 star or whether it lives up to the rating? I never knew until I looked in on Trip Advisor, that there were so many star experts. You know, those people that can tell whether a hotel is 2 star rather than 3?

Why do they need to grumble about the number of foreign TV channels in the hotel and decry that all they can watch is Sky News? They are in a foreign country - of course, TV is foreign. After all, the hotel is full of foreigners. Sheesh!

Why do they have to comment on how basic the rooms are? I mean they have beds/linen/bathrooms/TV/Tea and coffee facilities - what else do they want? Or maybe they really did go on holiday so that they could live in their rooms watching English TV, consorting with fellow Brits.

Why grumble about the choice of food when they are likely to be offered more than they ever see at home but get fed up because there aren't enough chips and nuggets?

Rant over for the time being.