I was putting away the Christmas things when my gaze fell upon an envelope which still had a stamp. They, like greeting cards have become rather rare which is of course much better for trees, emissions and the like, and also much faster, but I was on the point of putting it into the recycling bin when I remembered how Dad and his father before him, had so carefully removed each and every stamp for their precious collections. Even my children did a bit of stamp collecting in our pre -TV and Internet days, though none were as passionate about it as my Dad. When everything came by mail and travel to exotic places depicted in stamps was also rare, those small squares of brightly coloured paper gave glimpses of a colourful and fascinating world beyond, memories of distant friends and the hope that one day in the distant future, those stamps might yield a small return. People queued for hours in anticipation of a new issue so that they could get those prized First Day Covers. These sometim...
Practising Geographer - nature culture places people