Taxing - Sunday Stamps (on Monday)

I must have had a taxing time at the weekend as I missed the window for the link to Viridian's Sunday Stamps.

The theme this week was "stamps that leave you wondering: what is this stamp trying to show? What does it commemorate? Or, who is this person on this stamp anyway?"

In my case the stamp is quite clearly a GB definitive of King George VI.

Stamp receipt 1951

Apparently it was the practice for cash receipts to carry a stamp depending on the value of the goods - in this case 2d for purchases up to £20.

This receipt was for a carpet bought by my future mother-in-law in 1951. Neither my wife nor I can remember this practice after we were married in 1958.

It may have been abolished in 1971 when decimal currency was introduced. So there's the mystery; can anyone tell me more?

All I've turned up is the Receipt Duty explanation in this link http://www.cosgb.org/cosgbv1n2.htm

Despite my lateness you can still check out other posts at Sunday-stamps-82

A Policeman's Lot - Sepia Saturday

With elections coming up in the UK for police commisioners Britains's chief constables have warned candidates about using policing images in their election material. You get the feeling that a policeman's lot is not a happy one.

Hopefully however this group of Victorian policemen were in a happier mood.

19th Century Policemen

Photo of framed Victorian photograph by Linda Spashett (CC A 3.0 unported licence)

This photo comes from the West Gate Towers and Museum, St Peter's Street, Canterbury.

Even during WWI a policeman's lot  was not always to be envied as shown in this picture from Bermondsey on 14 October 1915.

Damaged house, Chambers Street, Bermondsey 1915

(Photo - Imperial War Museum Collection)

The policemen are standing beside a crater caused by bombs dropped from the German airship L15.

But courtesy of the Bury St Edmunds Past and Present Society (Spanton Jarman Collection) we can see another group of policemen in what looks like a  more rural setting.

Group of policemen at Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk - c1900

Perhaps they are getting ready to join in the chase - 

Buster Keaton running from a huge mob of policeman

(release date March 1922, Buster Keaton film Cops)

Which surely is a cue for

Hope you enjoyed the show as I could not find sporting policemen like those in this week's prompt.

For more police related stories check out SS-137

Cloudy - Thematic Photographic

Except for late evening skies I don't think I've ever set out to photograph clouds and the effects they create. However I find I have lots of photos where the clouds have made a contribution to the success of the resulting shot.

Clouds over Mawgan Porth Beach, Cornwall 2011

Mawgan Porth

Closer to home this shot of Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge was taken from the RSPB's Saltholme nature reserve.

Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge 2009

While on the subject of birds here's one I caught on the wing.

Turkey Buzzard - Michigan 2009

The clouds also make an effective background in the shot of a UK fire brigade practising with an extending ladder.

Fire practice - Simon Snorkel ladder

To see other cloudy shots please drop in at Carmi's thematic-photographic-206

Edited Mawgan Porth

Following Paul's comment I have 'converted' one of the beach shot's to B&W

 

Training - Sunday Stamps

Training seemed to be a good topic to chose now the Olympics have started. But as we did Olympic stamps last week I have picked trains instead.

Great Britain - 150th Anniversary of Public Railways 1975

This issue came about partly as a result of interest amongst philatelists and railway enthusiasts for a set of stamps featuring trains.

The village where I live is c5 miles from Stockton and 13 from Darlington. Yarm is the town three miles away which has this plaque on the Town Hall.

Pioneers of the first public railway

 The meeting to establish the first railway, the Stockton & Darlington Railway, was held at the Union Arms in Yarm.

Commemorative plaque - Union Arms, Yarm

For others' selections this week check out Sunday-stamps-81 where I know you will find some newly issued Olympic stamps.

 

Ball Games - Sepia Saturday

I knew what I was going to post as soon as I saw this week's prompt:

I played cricket for many years but I've only watched one game of baseball.

Baseball - Dearborn, Michigan 2006

Earlier that summer we visited England's north-east coast and came across a cricket match in progress in the shadow of Bamburgh Castle.

Cricket at Bamburgh Castle 2006

 I've also played a lot of tennis but was never good enough to beat my daughter even when I was fit.

Beaten again - Sveti Stefan

Playing tennis indoors on hard courts didn't help my knees so I turned to golf at the late age of 50. As an active hockey and cricket player I had always told my golfing friends that any b....! fool can hit a ball that stays still.

Billingham Golf Club - 17th green

 I was recovering from minor surgery at the time that I took that shot of two of my golfing partners.

Billingham - 11th fairway

 I also have to admit that my daughter also beats me at golf although she only plays a few times a year.

The Homestead - Michigan's fresh water resort

Here she's posing with a golfing statue at Michigan's Homestead resort.

Finally here's the family's current sporting star.

Surfing champion

For more fun and games I suggest that you take a look at what's happening on Sepia-saturday-136

Broken - Thematic Photography

Once broken, never forgotten but rescued and restored to all her glory Brunel's steamship the SS Great Britain sits today in the dry dock at Bristol's Historic Quay

When launched by Prince Albert in 1843 she was the biggest ship in the world, At the time she was the world's first ocean liner and completed her first trip to New York in 1845 in 14 days and 21 hours.

Brunel had designed the ship to be run chiefly by steam but but she could also use her sails.Between 1852 and 1875 she undertook the role of Emigrant Steam Clipper taking families to a new life in Australia. !856 saw SS Great Britain carry troops to fight in the Crimea; in 1861 she carried the first England cricket team to Australia.

In 1882 her role changed again as she was converted to carry cargo, her engine and funnel were removed. With three tall masts and broad square sails she became a 'windjammer' carrying coal to San Fransico.

Badly damaged by storms  rounding Cape Horn in 1886 she took shelter in the Falkland Islands where she was used as a floating warehouse for coal and wood. Her working life ended in 1933. In 1937 holes were made in her hull and she was scuttled in a remote windswept bay.

If you visit the restored ship in its Bristol dry dock you can see the 'broken' state of the great ship below the 'waterline.'

SS Great Britain Scuttling Holes

SS Great Britian - c1968 'broken' but rescued

The ship came back to England in 1970 on a pontoon and now takes centre stage on Bristol's Historic Quay.

SS Great Britain - Bristol 2011

 A long way from that Falkland's windswept cove.

Add caption

 For more broken artifacts don't forget to look in on Carmi's thematic-photographic-205

Olympics - Sunday Stamps

Next Sunday the Olympic Games will have begun in London. London is the only city to host the games three times. I was 11 in 1948, the last time the games were held in London. These were the stamps issued to commemorate those Olympics, the so-called "Austerity" Games.

Great Britain - 1948 Olympics

I wish I could say I had these stamps in my collection but I have to admit they are taken from a catalogue.

One wonders what got into the minds of those who decided this would be the first stamp issued for 2012.

Great Britain - Logo for London 2012

The obsession with the Olympics rings gripped Canada for Montreal in

Canada - Montreal 1976

 

But thanks to my pet market stall I managed to find some stamps showing individual sports.

Nicaragua - Los Angeles 1984

I must admit the 1948 stamps would be my favourites, if only I had them in my collection.

For more Olympians check out Sunday-stamps-80.