World Stamp Expo Fun Times!

 

So this blogging game has gotten away from me recently, and as a result there is a bit of catching up to do. About a month ago I was very excited to attend the World Stamp Expo, which was being held in my hometown of Melbourne. The WORLD STAMP EXPO!

The Expo was held at the Royal Exhibition Building, a beautiful UNESCO World Heritage listed building located in the Carlton Gardens. I dragged my dutiful boyfriend along, who patiently accompanied through the myriad stalls from various postal authorities from around the globe. I also dragged my friend Grant along - but he chose to lie in the sun for a couple of hours in the Gardens instead. Each to their own (but you missed out on some fun, Grant!).

As you could well imagine, I made a few purchases over the course of the day. My little bag was full (and my bank account empty) by the end of it. I got a souvenir minisheet to add to my royal kitsch collection, embossed with the Expo logo on it.  And I just couldn't help myself, also adding to my royal collection I got a Wills and Kate FDC.

Moving away from my tacky fascination with royals, I also indulged my love of maps, and found this amazingly beautiful minisheet from Greenland. What a find!

I also visited Deutsche Post, and purchased this lovely minisheet as it features both a map element and the Antarctic, and I love the Antarctic. The combinations of boats and ice always make for beautiful images. Would you agree?

I also found these awesome Indonesian stamps, which I saw when I visited there last year, but resisted buying at the time due to budgetary constraints.

The stamps depict traditional fabric designs from around Indonesia. They are quite lovely, in my opinion.

Anyhow that is a sample of my many purchases from the World Stamp Expo 2013.  It was a very fun day out for a big stamp nerd like me.

And now this stamp nerd is signing off for the time being. I am about to head to Turkey for six and a half weeks! I am very excited and will be working on a Roman archaeological site on the south coast. It is an absolute dream come true and I can't wait to be archaeologising on the other side of the world. So I will try and post to this blog (probably fairly irregularly) over the coming few weeks, but the posts will be archaeologic rather than philatelic in nature. But watch this space!

Royal kitsch

Pieta, William and Clancy, Feb 2003

Eleanor Ferret (my youngest sister) gave me the above birthday card a couple of weeks ago and it is the inspiration for this post. She knows me very well, because this is about the best birthday card ever. So cheesy, so kitsch, so wrong - yet so right.

I have been a fan of Wills since I bought a calendar featuring ridiculous (read: very serious) portrait shots of him, circa 2002. It was total hipster irony before hipsters were even hipsters, let alone before they were ironic.

Ted, Wills and Sandy dining
al fresco under the hills hoist in
the backyard of 36B

That year Wills attended a party with me - it was a dress up party and you had to go as what you wanted to be in the future. I went as HRH Helen, with Wills (plucked from my calendar) as my beau.

He was then added to our dinner invite list - and these are a couple of photos of him enjoying a party in the good-old-days of "36B": our student share-house in Carnegie. The thoughtful person who hung William out to dry also put up a sign: "I shall NEVER marry a lady by the name of HELEN". At least my funny friends thought I was a lady. But how about that - they were right about him not marrying one.

In actual fact, my love of royal kitsch reaches beyond my student days - well beyond.

These Will stamps from my Mum and are from the same era as the calendar

I still remember that in my baby album there was a 50c commemorative coin from Charlie and Di's engagement. It always fascinated me when I was younger and flicking through the album. That little piece of royal kitsch was gifted to me as a baby just because the royal couple happened to marry in the year I was born - and it has had a lasting impact.

So, of course, within my stamp collection, which reflects so much about my life, there is a sub-section for royal kitsch.  But it is not just William who captures my imagination - the whole fairy tale turned nightmare of Charles and Diana mesmerises me - just like a train wreck might. What strange lives these royals must lead. And at this point I should probably disclose that I am a republican. So - see - this royal kitsch thing is 50% hipster irony, 50% actual delight.

The British stamp pack for Charlie and Di's Royal Wedding is brilliant. The photos are gorgeous. Diana is beautiful and oh, so young. This is the fairy tale stage. (And I love a fairy tale.)

The back of the stamp pack half opened out. And Diana in a sailor suit! Ah! The 80s!

The Australian stamp pack celebrating the wedding is a tad boring by comparison:

My collection is incomplete (aren't all collections); I still need to get the Wills and Kate stamp from their actual wedding. Although that still might be on my shopping list, very importantly I do have the William and Katherine paper dolls set, so I can cut out costumes and dress up the royal pair anytime I want. Ah - the simple pleasures in life!