Happy New Year!
A New Year and what a great start for cover collectors! The Design Classics stamps and celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the Mini and 40th anniversary of Concorde.
Our signed editions really get the year off to a flier (no pun intended!). It took lots of detective work to track down the key engineer on the very first Concorde flight, Michel Retif. I have never seen him sign before. And who better than
Paddy Hopkirk for the Mini cover? The man who raced the Mini Cooper S through icy, twisty mountain passes of the Alps and into the record books, winning the Monte Carlo Rally. The cover illustration shows him doing it!
What’s Next?
I have mentioned before how it gets harder to find the autographs I want. For the Darwin stamps next month though, I have two more fabulous signatures. We are working with the HMS Beagle project. The project is to build a full size replica of Darwin’s ship and sail it round the original route doing scientific work. You can find out more about it at www.thebeagleproject.com. We will be carrying covers but this won’t be until later in 2009 or even 2010. Click here to see our HMS Beagle cover.
Our autographs for the Darwin issue are:
Sir Robin Knox Johnson who is a Patron of the Beagle Project and of course, the first person to sail single handed and non-stop around the world
Dame Ellen McCarthy, our most famous yachtswomen
That’s the good news. The bad news is that covers signed by Dame Ellen will be late as I have agreed she can sign them as and when but I think it’s well worth the wait.
I hope I will soon have a second autograph for our Robert Burns cover. Our main signature
for the Burns cover, Alexandra McCall Smith, is certainly one of Scotland’s most famous authors so I am delighted to include him in the series.
Club members will get covers reserved for them as usual and Emma will be in touch to check if you want them this time.
If you are not in the club, it is worth placing an order sooner rather than later if you want any of the signed covers.
Tony’s Chat
I have further evidence of the state of the economy. A vulture (well, heron) has adopted us, having eaten all of our fish. These fish had been getting bigger and bigger for years. They were more like pets, coming to the trough up to five times a day. You’d be amazed how demanded fish can be. Once they surfaced, ogling and goggling and splashing, I really didn’t dare not put in some more fish food.
A visitor once told us that our monster fish were worth around £100-£150 each. I just hope the greedy heron realized he just ate £1000!!! Why he stays, I don’t know. Perhaps he hopes we will feed him up to five times a day?
On a similar note, I had to pay my tax in advance. I always dutifully send a cheque for Cath and myself before I fly south for my winter holiday.
It suddenly occurred to me that, as Mr. Brown had removed a great chunk of my income, then I probably won't owe them anything. My accountant advised appealing so the Government gets peanuts. I imagine this will be repeated throughout the country. Less income for Mr Brown that usual? Even worse for him, I reckon he will owe me for this year!
Am I the only one who finds it extraordinary that he gives 1% stamp duty and then urges first time buyers to grab the chance to be ruined as prices fall by 20%? He abolishes boom and bust, saves the World, and robs our pension funds to set the framework for the collapse. Did he not think 125 % mortgages meant 30% negative equity straight away? I could go on and on but yet apparently, he is the man to save us! Is it just me who is not convinced?
How does 0% bank rate help? Mortgage rates will not go below 5% for most and the banks will be starved of capital so will lend less. As for the savers, well, “don’t bother” is the message he’s sending.
But it’s always swings and roundabouts. Just seems we are always on the swings when the roundabouts are doing well!
At least I didn’t invest in a $50 billion fund that had its accounts in Rockwell, in a 13ft by 8ft office. There were 3 in the practice it turns out - a 78 year old retiree living in Florida plus one other and a secretary. Didn’t some of the clever ones notice before investing billions?
I saw one clever advertisement: if you are keeping your money under the mattress, make sure it’s a good one: buy a luxury bed from us!”
Tony
Our signed editions really get the year off to a flier (no pun intended!). It took lots of detective work to track down the key engineer on the very first Concorde flight, Michel Retif. I have never seen him sign before. And who better than
Paddy Hopkirk for the Mini cover? The man who raced the Mini Cooper S through icy, twisty mountain passes of the Alps and into the record books, winning the Monte Carlo Rally. The cover illustration shows him doing it!
What’s Next?
I have mentioned before how it gets harder to find the autographs I want. For the Darwin stamps next month though, I have two more fabulous signatures. We are working with the HMS Beagle project. The project is to build a full size replica of Darwin’s ship and sail it round the original route doing scientific work. You can find out more about it at www.thebeagleproject.com. We will be carrying covers but this won’t be until later in 2009 or even 2010. Click here to see our HMS Beagle cover.
Our autographs for the Darwin issue are:
Sir Robin Knox Johnson who is a Patron of the Beagle Project and of course, the first person to sail single handed and non-stop around the world
Dame Ellen McCarthy, our most famous yachtswomen
That’s the good news. The bad news is that covers signed by Dame Ellen will be late as I have agreed she can sign them as and when but I think it’s well worth the wait.
I hope I will soon have a second autograph for our Robert Burns cover. Our main signature
for the Burns cover, Alexandra McCall Smith, is certainly one of Scotland’s most famous authors so I am delighted to include him in the series.
Club members will get covers reserved for them as usual and Emma will be in touch to check if you want them this time.
If you are not in the club, it is worth placing an order sooner rather than later if you want any of the signed covers.
Tony’s Chat
I have further evidence of the state of the economy. A vulture (well, heron) has adopted us, having eaten all of our fish. These fish had been getting bigger and bigger for years. They were more like pets, coming to the trough up to five times a day. You’d be amazed how demanded fish can be. Once they surfaced, ogling and goggling and splashing, I really didn’t dare not put in some more fish food.
A visitor once told us that our monster fish were worth around £100-£150 each. I just hope the greedy heron realized he just ate £1000!!! Why he stays, I don’t know. Perhaps he hopes we will feed him up to five times a day?
On a similar note, I had to pay my tax in advance. I always dutifully send a cheque for Cath and myself before I fly south for my winter holiday.
It suddenly occurred to me that, as Mr. Brown had removed a great chunk of my income, then I probably won't owe them anything. My accountant advised appealing so the Government gets peanuts. I imagine this will be repeated throughout the country. Less income for Mr Brown that usual? Even worse for him, I reckon he will owe me for this year!
Am I the only one who finds it extraordinary that he gives 1% stamp duty and then urges first time buyers to grab the chance to be ruined as prices fall by 20%? He abolishes boom and bust, saves the World, and robs our pension funds to set the framework for the collapse. Did he not think 125 % mortgages meant 30% negative equity straight away? I could go on and on but yet apparently, he is the man to save us! Is it just me who is not convinced?
How does 0% bank rate help? Mortgage rates will not go below 5% for most and the banks will be starved of capital so will lend less. As for the savers, well, “don’t bother” is the message he’s sending.
But it’s always swings and roundabouts. Just seems we are always on the swings when the roundabouts are doing well!
At least I didn’t invest in a $50 billion fund that had its accounts in Rockwell, in a 13ft by 8ft office. There were 3 in the practice it turns out - a 78 year old retiree living in Florida plus one other and a secretary. Didn’t some of the clever ones notice before investing billions?
I saw one clever advertisement: if you are keeping your money under the mattress, make sure it’s a good one: buy a luxury bed from us!”
Tony
Labels: autographs, economy, HMS Beagle, investments, Robert Burns
posted by Tony | 08:46
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