Dover Castle - The Key to England

Dover Castle is a medieval castle in the town of the same name in the English county of Kent. It was founded in the 12th century and has been described as the "Key to England" due to its defensive significance throughout history. It is the largest castle in England.

Dover Castle is a Scheduled Monument, which means it is a "nationally important" historic building and archaeological site that has been given protection against unauthorised change. It is also a Grade I listed building, and recognised as an internationally important structure. The castle, secret tunnels, and surrounding land are now owned by English Heritage and the site is a major tourist attraction. The Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports is officially head of the castle, in his conjoint position of Constable of Dover Castle, and the Deputy Constable has his residence in Constable's Gate. The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment Museum is located in the castle.

Between 2007 and 2009, English Heritage spent £2.45 million on recreating the castle's interior. According to figures released by the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, nearly 350,000 people visited Dover Castle in 2010. Margaret sent this Nice picture card of the historically important Dover Castle to me. And Don't forget the really pretty stamp affixed to the card. This stamp is one of a wonderful set of stamps of characters in the TV Serial “Thomas the Tank Engine”. Daisy is a diesel railcar who came to work on the branch line when Thomas needed repairs. The Fat Controller decided to keep Daisy when she proved she could be useful. Her face is decorated in make-up, including eyelashes, red lipstick, and purple eye-shadow. To tell you a little secret – I loved this TV serial and was sad when The Cartoon Network Channel took it off the air in India.

Horse-drawn single-track lines - 1890–1900

Today, Helsinki is the only city in Finland to still have tram traffic. Two other Finnish cities—Turku and Vyborg (now part of Russia) — have had tram systems. Vyborg abandoned its trams in 1957, after the city had been ceded to the Soviet Union following the result of World War II. Turku withdrew its trams in 1972.

The first proposals for the construction of a tram system into Helsinki were made in 1870s, but they were at the time unsuccessful. Public transport in Helsinki was initiated in 1888 by using horse-drawn omnibuses. In 1889 Helsingin Omnibussiosakeyhtiö acquired the right to construct tram lines in Helsinki. The following year the company changed its name in Helsingin raitiotie- ja omnibussiosakeyhtiö (abbreviated HRO). Electric traction was considered as a power source for the new system, but due to lack of funds and the city council's negative attitude towards electric trams, the decision was made to use horse-drawn trams instead. The new system was built to a rail gauge of one metre. Test traffic started in December 1890, but the network wasn't officially opened for traffic until June 1891. The capacity of the horse tram system soon proved insufficient, but the changeover into electrified trams was postproned while waiting for the price of electrification of the network to drop.

This lovely stamp was issued on May 23, 1988. My dear friend Merja sent me this pretty maxicard.

Nature conservation - birds of prey

These three maxicards and stamps issued on 15.10.2003 by the Czech Republic, were given to me by Maria and depict three types of birds of Prey which face extinction if proper care is not taken NOW.. Starting from left to right are; Milvus milvus or The Red Kite (below left) is a medium-large bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as eagles, buzzards, and harriers. The species is currently endemic to the Western Palearctic region in Europe and northwest Africa, though formerly also occurred just outside in northern Iran. It is a rare species which is resident in the milder parts of its range in western Europe and northwest Africa, but birds from northeastern and central Europe winter further south and west, reaching south to Turkey. Vagrants have reached north to Finland and south to Israel and Libya. They belong to the critically endangered species, which means that there is an immediate threat of their complete extinction in. In order to prevent the extinction of these beautiful birds, it is important to apply effective protection.

Falco peregrinus or The Peregrine Falcon (above), also known as the Peregrine, and historically as the Duck Hawk in North America, is a widespread bird of prey in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-gray back, barred white underparts, and a black head and "moustache". Typical of bird-eating raptors, Peregrine Falcons are sexually dimorphic, with females being considerably larger than males. The Peregrine is renowned for its speed, reaching over 325 km/h (202 mph) during its characteristic hunting stoop, making it the fastest member of the animal kingdom. . They also belong to the critically endangered species, which means that there is an immediate threat of their complete extinction in. In order to prevent the extinction of these beautiful birds in, it is important to apply effective protection.

Hieraaetus pennatus or The Booted Eagle (below right) is a medium-sized bird of prey. It is about 47 centimetres (19 in) in length and has a wingspan of 120 centimetres (47 in). Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. It is rare. In order to prevent the extinction of these beautiful birds, it is important to apply effective protection. It breeds in southern Europe, North Africa and across Asia. It is migratory, wintering in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. This eagle lays 1-2 eggs in a tree or crag nest. This is a species of wooded, often hilly countryside with some open areas. It hunts small mammals, reptiles and birds.

Juha Kankkunen – Rally World Champion

Juha Matti Pellervo Kankkunen is a Finnish former rally driver. His factory team career in the World Rally Championship lasted from 1983 to 2002. He won 23 world rallies and four drivers' world championship titles, which were both once records in the series. Sébastien Loeb has since collected more world titles, but no driver has so far been able to repeat Kankkunen's feat of becoming a world champion with three different manufacturers. Kankkunen's achievements outside the WRC include winning the Dakar Rally in 1988 and the Race of Champions in 1988 and 1991. Following his retirement from active rallying, he has worked in the fields of business and politics. From 2007 to 2011, Kankkunen held the world speed record on ice in a Bentley Continental GT.

On 15 February 2011, Juha Kankkunen drove his 6.0 litre all-wheel drive Bentley Continental car on the frozen Baltic Sea off the coast of Finland. He achieved a speed of 205.48 miles per hour and created a new world record. A 16.5 km long track with about 70 cm thick sea ice was prepared for this purpose. The officials of Finland traffic police were present to measure the speeds. A representative of The Guinness Book of World Records ratified the same. The Champion had to overcome the low temperatures of minus 30, apart from sudden snow blizzards and severe crosswinds, but braved it to all to achieve the marvellous success. Bentley’s new chairman paid the tribute to Juha and chief executive Wolfgang when he said that the new record made by him under such extreme conditions is in fact an amazing achievement and speaks of the skill and courage of Juha, who can be rightly called as a modern-day ‘Bentley Boy’. He wowed to celebrate this historic event by building another state-of-the-art Bentley model very soon, which will be the most powerful model. My dear friend Merja gave me this nice maxi card.

Spaceship Ulysses

THE original Ulysses took ten years to return home from Troy. On the way he encountered all sorts of monsters, lovers and other hazards. A latter-day Ulysses is taking just five and a half years to get back to where it started-and the only dangers it faces are charged particles, stray extraterrestrials and cosmic rays. For this Ulysses is a spacecraft, and in a few months' time it will have completed its first full orbit of the sun. Unlike most of the familiar things that orbit the sun-planets, asteroids and even other spacecraft-Ulysses does not circulate in the plane of the ecliptic (the region of the solar system that is analogous to the earth's equator). Instead, its orbit is almost perpendicular to that plane.

Ulysses was launched in 1990 on a five-year mission to study the sun. The craft gathered new data about the speed and direction of the solar wind. It discovered the 3D shape of the sun's magnetic field. It recorded solar flares on the sun, and super-solar flares from distant neutron stars. Ulysses even flew through the tail of comet Hyakutake, an unexpected encounter that delighted astronomers. The mission was supposed to end in 1995, but Ulysses was too successful to quit. NASA and the ESA have granted extensions after extensions. A milestone was reached on June 10^th 2011 when Ulysses became the longest-running ESA-operated spacecraft, overtaking the International Ultraviolet Explorer which logged 18 years and 246 days of operations. At present The Ulysses orbital path is carrying the spacecraft away from Earth. The ever-widening gap has progressively limited the amount of data transmitted. Ulysses project managers, with the concurrence of ESA and NASA, decided it was an appropriate time now to end this epic scientific adventure.

The 7c Europa stamp issued by Cyprus depicts the European spaceship "Ulysses" launched in October 1990 from the shuttle "Atlantis". Its objective was to study some parts of the Sun, the solar wind, the cosmic rays, and to trace gravity waves. This nice maxicard was given to me by Merja.

Lighthouse of Genoa aka La Lanterna

I had the pleasure of being in Genoa in August 1957 when My family including myself were waiting to board the Llyod Triestino liner MV Asia on our way back to India. That was when our host included a visit for us to the famous Lighthouse of Genoa better known as , which is the main lighthouse for the city's port. Besides being an important aid to night navigation in the vicinity, the tower serves as a symbol for the City of Genoa, and is one of the oldest standing structures of its kind in the world. It is built on the hill of San Benigno at some little distance from the Sampierdarena neighborhood. At 249 feet (76 m) it is the world's second tallest "traditional lighthouse" built of masonry. It is constructed in two square portions, each one capped by a terrace; the whole structure is crowned by a lantern from which the light is shone.

In 1405 the priests who were responsible for the upkeep of the lighthouse placed on its cupola a fish and a golden cross to serve as symbols of Christianity. During the cinquecento the structure was heavily damaged again, this time by friendly fire from the Genovese against the French. Thirty years later, in 1543, the tower was once again reconstructed, assuming the form in which it may still be seen today. In 1449 one of the keepers of the lighthouse was listed as Antonio Colombo, uncle of explorer Christopher Columbus. The cape on which the Lanterna stands was at one time a peninsula before the nearby coastline was filled in and reshaped. To the west, it marked the entrance to the original port of Genoa, today the Porto Antico. Over time, the hill on the cape assumed the name "Capo di Faro", or "Lighthouse Cape"; it is also sometimes referred to as the cape of San Benigno, after the convent that once stood there. Today, the hill is gone save for a small rise upon which the lighthouse stands; the rest of it was removed to provide infill for other areas of the city. This nice card was sent to me by Stefania.

Finnish Gunner’s of the 18th Century

A platoon of smartly dressed Finnish artillerymen with a mobile cannon in the Army of the 18^th Century. This platoon was probably based in Turku. They bear a close resemblance to the Swedish-Finnish artillery of the 18^th century. The uniforms worn by this group of men is similar to those used during Charles XII (King of Sweden from 1697 to 1718). This card was sent to me by one of my friends who preferres to remain anonymous.