Beautiful stamps showing the Royal Observatory in Greenwich .
This card was posted when I got back to Portsmouth as I was not near a Post office during my time on the Isle of Wight.
Mailed in Portsmouth without a postmark.
As ever in many European countries and especially UK getting a selection of stamps from the Post office is near impossible. All Definitive stamps in the UK carry a barcode exactly like Germany.
There is a postbox at the Giants Causeway. But did not drop it there due to the changes of not getting postmarked. So on the coast was in a beautiful village of Cushendun. The girl in the Post office told me it was her first day and had no stamps ! I had already bought the stamps previously. My only request was the card to be postmarked at the post office and go in the mail . This also has the machine cancel .
This is taken on the Giants Causeway. A beautiful day
Nice to see a local postmark . A small post office on the island and some new stamps .
Posted this at a magical Post Office in the village of Bushmills. Very helpful staff and some " Special " stamps as they call them in the UK for sale.
I managed to get the postmaster to postmark my cards for this trip . I was tired of UK cards coming back with no postmarks. Featuring new wildlife stamps.
Another first here . This being the first time I have used a definitive stamp of the King. It was all change as on this trip visited the new Philatelic office at Broadway . Unfortunately as is the usual now this stamp received no postmark.
Very pleased to see that this postcard did get a postcard. Rare on my last UK postcards. I in fact posted at Gatwick Airport . Perhaps that was the trick .
As I have said before finding regional stamps in Northern Ireland is not easy. I was lucky to find this stamp in a remote Post Office. This stamp was only issued in later 2020 .
Europe-United Kingdom-Northern Ireland-Co.Down . This is the hotel I stayed in . It is very famous and was opened in 1898 when Newcastle was a railway stop on the Dublin-Belfast line. No longer there. But the Slieve Donard Hotel certainly is. Nearby attractions include the scenic Donard Park, beach and promenade.
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Europe-United Kingdom-England-London I got this card during my visit to the Postal Museum in London. It is a two part location. The first part is the museum which is disappointing. It had very little in Philatelic displays. The second part of the visit was to the nearby underground postal railway. That was a treat and loved it. This card is showing a sorting machine at Mount Pleasant office in 1937. I love the yellow coats. |
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| This was the one of the stamp options that I could purchase at the Postal museum I was surprised to find no Post Office Philatelic Counter. So just labels. Here you can see it says on the label The Postal Museum. I did mail this in a special box , but no special cancellation. I am less than impressed. |
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Europe-United Kingdom-England-London This card is from the London Transport museum. This is the first printed version of Harry Beck's now world famous Underground map. 1933. The museum itself is very interesting with Buses, Underground transport and Trams all relating to London . |
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| Unless you go to a large Post Office , United Kingdom Post Offices do not sell special stamps. This is peel and stick stamp I purchased as you can see on the label from the Postal Museum. |
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Europe-United Kingdom-England-London This is the very impressive State room in Buckingham Palace. I have been to a lot of Palaces that are open to the public. This one is very well maintained and is stunning. I suspect the key reason is that it is in reality in use with the exception of the 6 weeks it is open to the public in the summer. |
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| This card does have a postmark which for me is now rare in the UK. |
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Europe-United Kingdom-England-London This is Buckingham Palace , the home of The Queen . I am not normally in London at this time of year, but on this occasion I was able to visit the State rooms. |
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| United Kingdom is famous for its Machin Definitive stamps , which have been on sale since the 1960s. Most Post offices only sell these stamps and as is often the case the card is not postmarked. |
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Europe-United Kingdom-England-London I have always wanted to visit the National Portrait Gallery which is the largest in the world, but never got around to it. On this trip I made it and it is well worth while. In my opinion most of the best pictures are the Kings and Queens of England . Here is Queen Elizabeth the First. This is from around 1592. Fantastic painting. The Queen reigned from 1533-1603. One of the early works in the Gallery |
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| Another double cancellation, but better then the usual none. The stamp features a Eurasian Beaver which is an Endangered species. |
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Europe-United Kingdom-England-London While in London I visited the wonderful ABBA exhibition . Telling the story and the song that really started it for them Waterloo in 1974 winning the Eurovision Song Contest. I remember that night . So since ABBA are in the news with two new songs to be released later this year, I think it is great to have a card showing some of the outfits they appeared in . 1970s. Great exhibition and love the music. |
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| The stamp is a recent issue showing endangered species. I got the Post office to cancel this by hand before I posted it as the UK has a very poor reputation for postmarking mail and often just uses a pen ! On this occasion it got the standard cancel as well . |
