Yes of course Michael or one of !0p and one of 5 or 15 stamps of 1p! I am tempted!
To avoid giving the PO any more money than absolutely necessary I always buy enough to get them post free, which means at least £50 worth of stamps so I also tried to buy the necessary amount of £1,85. Guess what? this morning they were still unavailable. Maybe now they are but I am fed up.
Oh, my, that is expensive postage for International Mail! About 2.22 Euro? It is 2Euro for a First Class Priority International here in Greece, but no way do I send my mail art "first class", ha! Happily 20 grams in an envelope can still go for 1Euro a broad, abroad :-)...though must agree it is very sloooow snail mail. Happy to learn that the Prince and the Queen will still be seen ..along with that code thing!
Beware of discount stamps on Bookface or eBay. A lot of them are too good to be true, either used but uncancelled, or outright forgeries from a big country in the far east. This is the sort of thing which has led Royal Mail to introduce the dreaded barcodes. I'm careful to buy only old stamps with original gum; these are legal.
Thanks for the heads up Alan. Seemed like it was too good to be true. Not been tempted. I used to get bags of unfranked stamps from the Oxfam shop but sadly they closed a few years back. I didn't feel so bad knowing that some of the money was going to charity.
Do not worry about me, I would not fall for the Stamp scam. and I am not in Facebook. The post office it is, even if I have to sell the house.
Katerina, I suspect our postage is the most expensive in the world.
This is disgusting because the British PO is racking in the lolly from their packets distribution.
By the way. Kevin my postman did apologize this morning! He agrees with me that the PO is trying to get rid of the letter side of the business and concentrate on packets.
For once I got to report a good experience, for me, with the Post Office. Years ago I bought loads of second class stamps and a few first class just in case. I had to exchange them now for the new barcoded ones. In total I sent 81 old stamps and got back 81 new ones, all of them first class, costing now 95 pence. I originally payed much less! It feels so good!
Assuridly so. or to put it another way - upon the upturned sundial on the mantlepiece. I keep my stamps in a little box just about eye line in my workroom along with several badges, pins, old erasers and a chewed toffee. I made that last bit up - I hate toffees!
The Post Office is in a mess with depots chock-a-block with letters and parcels. that is what a neighbour who is a postman told me, he managed to get hold of our mail and brought it to us. I do not know if the international mail is actually leaving the country. No information. Anybody knows? I feel that I cannot post until this clears up. What does everybody think? I have everything printed and ready. So annoying, but still I support the strike as postal workers have been offered the raise in salary they deserve in exchange for longer hours! It is a joke.
Martha - I'd post all your mail now if I were you - it can only get worse before Xmas! I support the postal strike too ( and all the others ) -worrying times for all when the country is governed by idiots!
Martha - Thanks for the link - always a treat to scroll through masses of verbiage! H aha! Being dyslexic that ammount of wordage is just a blur to me! I posted all my Xmas cards today - some to USA and a few to EU - fingers crossed!
IMPORTANT! from the PO. January 19 From today, customers sending letters to all international destinations can start sending mail into the Royal Mail network again.
Yesterday I ordered International postage stamps from the Post office website. They arrived today and as I was busy Kevin my postman signed the packet for me! How is that for service?
Hi all! Are you aware of the latest postal news? I was not until my husband told me. The price of international postage is going up from Monday from £ 1.85 to £ 2.20! I had been checking since January the PO website did not say anything. Because it has not been revised since a year ago!!! And I did not notice, silly me! More bad news; the Royal Mail, so called, maybe taken into administration with the consequent disruption or even death of mailing as we know it. It is a failing private business now, only interested in profit so it concentrates on profitable areas like parcel deliveries but still has an obligation to deliver letters to every address in the country. Hence the court action. They should do the same to our conservative (read fascist) government. They have run down the country to a shadow of what it was with their sick ideology: Take from the poor to give to the rich.
Martha - a sad state of affairs all round. Seems like the death knell to me too. Thank goodness for the internet although could go the same way - prices going up for broadband and other services. Carrier pigeons anyone?
I have thought about carrier pigeons. There are a few nice tame ones that come to my garden. I will have a word with them. Will offer an increase in peanuts.
The nearest we got once was sending a pigeon ( albeit a plastic decoy) through the mail to Hazel's Mom. We left his head emerging through the parcel so he "could breathe" - we didn't want the RSPCA after us! He arrived safe and sound with a coo from the postie who delivered him back in the 80's when sending anything seemed a cheap and cheerful affair!
That is so funny just what I need. Trying to buy International stamps on line as usual. No way! Only parcels! I do not know if to cry or tear my hear off. I shall do both to be on the safe side...
October seems ages yet although the weeks seem to rush by at an alarming rate! Hopefully can get down to London at somepoint this year. Still a bit wary of going on trains full of sniffly sneezy folk!
I understand, and there is another covid mutation on the offing. If you do come to London please do contact me, I am 20 minutes from Victoria and from there I can get anywhere very quickly.
I would like to expand my UK list of friends, would anybody want to correspond with me? Please let me know soon, I have something to send before the end of the year.
Yes, you'd think out of the 92 UK mail artists listed here there would be one or two that would respond to such a request Martha. Sadly the majority seem to be mail artists in name only . Responses to my recent projects have been less that enthusiastic - well, hardly any to be brutally frank! Its a sad state of affairs and not a patch on the heady days of the 80's and 90's when address listings would feature a dozen or so regular correspondents who were quite prolific.
I gear so - in the UK anyway. It's thriving in the rest of the world it seems. Mayb e they gave up on IUOMA and went elsewhere to dabble their toes? As for my address - I'm still here in Cheshire. I tend to recycle envelopes and forget to cross out the previous addressee! Eee by gum!
I’ve just held my own mail art project on Lundy and have an exhibition of postcards in the church. Tbh I found this website quite a challenge to navigate so gave up :(
Hi Jane - sorry to hear you had trouble navigating this website. I've had trouble with it in the past but mostly it seems OK for me at least. Good luck with the Lundy project. You must tell us about it - any pics? A website?
No probs. I expect it will be passed onto me - Kevin and James are good correspondents. Suprised you don't know them? Kevin has been mail arting for 40 years at least. So he tells me! I have no reason to doubt him. Sorry for confusion. Merry Xmas!
Thank you for your mail, Michael, and Hazel's! I do know Kevin and James, only that I do not memorize addresses so I did not recognize it. Oh, well, it is all in the family then.
Mail Art Martha
Yes of course Michael or one of !0p and one of 5 or 15 stamps of 1p! I am tempted!
To avoid giving the PO any more money than absolutely necessary I always buy enough to get them post free, which means at least £50 worth of stamps so I also tried to buy the necessary amount of £1,85. Guess what? this morning they were still unavailable. Maybe now they are but I am fed up.
Apr 5, 2022
Michael Leigh
Sorry to hear that Martha. there are discount stamp places 20% off all orders. I keep getting reminders on Facecrack! Sounds too good to be true!
Apr 5, 2022
Katerina Nikoltsou (MomKat)
Oh, my, that is expensive postage for International Mail! About 2.22 Euro? It is 2Euro for a First Class Priority International here in Greece, but no way do I send my mail art "first class", ha! Happily 20 grams in an envelope can still go for 1Euro a broad, abroad :-)...though must agree it is very sloooow snail mail. Happy to learn that the Prince and the Queen will still be seen ..along with that code thing!
Apr 6, 2022
Alan Brignull
Beware of discount stamps on Bookface or eBay. A lot of them are too good to be true, either used but uncancelled, or outright forgeries from a big country in the far east. This is the sort of thing which has led Royal Mail to introduce the dreaded barcodes. I'm careful to buy only old stamps with original gum; these are legal.
Apr 6, 2022
Michael Leigh
Thanks for the heads up Alan. Seemed like it was too good to be true. Not been tempted. I used to get bags of unfranked stamps from the Oxfam shop but sadly they closed a few years back. I didn't feel so bad knowing that some of the money was going to charity.
Apr 6, 2022
Mail Art Martha
Do not worry about me, I would not fall for the Stamp scam. and I am not in Facebook. The post office it is, even if I have to sell the house.
Katerina, I suspect our postage is the most expensive in the world.
This is disgusting because the British PO is racking in the lolly from their packets distribution.
By the way. Kevin my postman did apologize this morning! He agrees with me that the PO is trying to get rid of the letter side of the business and concentrate on packets.
Apr 6, 2022
Mail Art Martha
Sorry to bring bad news but the situation here is nasty.
Our Postal workers are revolting against measures which will give them a meagre increase in salary in exchange for worse working conditions.
Kevin our lovely postperson has told me that it will not affect my outgoing post. That is the good news, but the deliveries will be affected.
Aug 16, 2022
Mail Art Martha
I am going to put a sticker on my envelopes in support of our postal workers.
Aug 16, 2022
Mail Art Martha
For once I got to report a good experience, for me, with the Post Office. Years ago I bought loads of second class stamps and a few first class just in case. I had to exchange them now for the new barcoded ones. In total I sent 81 old stamps and got back 81 new ones, all of them first class, costing now 95 pence. I originally payed much less! It feels so good!
Nov 17, 2022
Michael Leigh
Lucky you! About time the post office made ammends for all the price hikes!
Nov 17, 2022
Mail Art Martha
I am not good at math but it was a good investment.
Nov 22, 2022
Michael Leigh
Assuridly so. or to put it another way - upon the upturned sundial on the mantlepiece. I keep my stamps in a little box just about eye line in my workroom along with several badges, pins, old erasers and a chewed toffee. I made that last bit up - I hate toffees!
Nov 22, 2022
Mail Art Martha
Received from A1, my own envelope, reworked, and a sheet of stamps. Thank you Michael!
Nov 23, 2022
Mail Art Martha
The Post Office is in a mess with depots chock-a-block with letters and parcels. that is what a neighbour who is a postman told me, he managed to get hold of our mail and brought it to us.
I do not know if the international mail is actually leaving the country. No information. Anybody knows?
I feel that I cannot post until this clears up. What does everybody think?
I have everything printed and ready. So annoying, but still I support the strike as postal workers have been offered the raise in salary they deserve in exchange for longer hours! It is a joke.
Dec 2, 2022
Michael Leigh
Martha - I'd post all your mail now if I were you - it can only get worse before Xmas! I support the postal strike too ( and all the others ) -worrying times for all when the country is governed by idiots!
Dec 3, 2022
Mail Art Martha
https://business.help.royalmail.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5317/~/...
Dec 3, 2022
Mail Art Martha
Not just idiots, Michael. Greedy, narrow minded, clinging-to-power-no-matter-if-the-country-goes-to-the-dogs idiots.
I have found something interesting, a site with news about International post, upgraded 1st of December, the link is in the previous message.
I will follow your advise and post this week. Keeping fingers crossed...
Dec 3, 2022
Michael Leigh
Martha - Thanks for the link - always a treat to scroll through masses of verbiage! H aha! Being dyslexic that ammount of wordage is just a blur to me! I posted all my Xmas cards today - some to USA and a few to EU - fingers crossed!
Dec 3, 2022
Mail Art Martha
Sorry, didnt know. it means we can post abroad. Home mail is delayed.
Dec 4, 2022
Mail Art Martha
By the way, numbers get in a blurr for me! Dysnumxia?
Dec 4, 2022
Mail Art Martha
IMPORTANT! from the PO. January 19 From today, customers sending letters to all international destinations can start sending mail into the Royal Mail network again.
Jan 20, 2023
Michael Leigh
Still getting Xmas cards and parcels delayed since December! What is the Royal Mail Network? Dont hold out much hope whilst these strikes are ongoing!
Jan 20, 2023
Mail Art Martha
Yesterday I ordered International postage stamps from the Post office website. They arrived today and as I was busy Kevin my postman signed the packet for me! How is that for service?
Feb 2, 2023
Michael Leigh
At least the internal mail seems to be functioning! Well done Kevin!
Feb 2, 2023
Mail Art Martha
Hi all! Are you aware of the latest postal news? I was not until my husband told me.
The price of international postage is going up from Monday from £ 1.85 to £ 2.20! I had been checking since January the PO website did not say anything. Because it has not been revised since a year ago!!! And I did not notice, silly me!
More bad news; the Royal Mail, so called, maybe taken into administration with the consequent disruption or even death of mailing as we know it. It is a failing private business now, only interested in profit so it concentrates on profitable areas like parcel deliveries but still has an obligation to deliver letters to every address in the country. Hence the court action. They should do the same to our conservative (read fascist) government. They have run down the country to a shadow of what it was with their sick ideology: Take from the poor to give to the rich.
Mar 31, 2023
Michael Leigh
Martha - a sad state of affairs all round. Seems like the death knell to me too. Thank goodness for the internet although could go the same way - prices going up for broadband and other services. Carrier pigeons anyone?
Mar 31, 2023
Mail Art Martha
I have thought about carrier pigeons. There are a few nice tame ones that come to my garden. I will have a word with them. Will offer an increase in peanuts.
Apr 1, 2023
Michael Leigh
The nearest we got once was sending a pigeon ( albeit a plastic decoy) through the mail to Hazel's Mom. We left his head emerging through the parcel so he "could breathe" - we didn't want the RSPCA after us! He arrived safe and sound with a coo from the postie who delivered him back in the 80's when sending anything seemed a cheap and cheerful affair!
Apr 2, 2023
Mail Art Martha
That is so funny just what I need. Trying to buy International stamps on line as usual. No way! Only parcels! I do not know if to cry or tear my hear off. I shall do both to be on the safe side...
Apr 10, 2023
James Warren Felter
Does anyone recognize this Mail Artist living in London?
Apr 27, 2023
Mail Art Martha
I hope to see you!
Jul 20, 2023
Michael Leigh
October seems ages yet although the weeks seem to rush by at an alarming rate! Hopefully can get down to London at somepoint this year. Still a bit wary of going on trains full of sniffly sneezy folk!
Jul 20, 2023
Mail Art Martha
I understand, and there is another covid mutation on the offing. If you do come to London please do contact me, I am 20 minutes from Victoria and from there I can get anywhere very quickly.
Sep 18, 2023
Mail Art Martha
I would like to expand my UK list of friends, would anybody want to correspond with me? Please let me know soon, I have something to send before the end of the year.
Dec 15, 2023
Michael Leigh
Yes, you'd think out of the 92 UK mail artists listed here there would be one or two that would respond to such a request Martha. Sadly the majority seem to be mail artists in name only . Responses to my recent projects have been less that enthusiastic - well, hardly any to be brutally frank! Its a sad state of affairs and not a patch on the heady days of the 80's and 90's when address listings would feature a dozen or so regular correspondents who were quite prolific.
Dec 15, 2023
Mail Art Martha
I will try targetting a few directly, see what happens.
Dec 15, 2023
Mail Art Martha
Has Mail Art in the UK already died? I had no reply from my request for correspondents living in Britain!
Dec 16, 2023
Michael Leigh
I gear so - in the UK anyway. It's thriving in the rest of the world it seems. Mayb e they gave up on IUOMA and went elsewhere to dabble their toes? As for my address - I'm still here in Cheshire. I tend to recycle envelopes and forget to cross out the previous addressee! Eee by gum!
Dec 16, 2023
Michael Leigh
*I fear so!
Dec 16, 2023
jane sharkey
Dec 16, 2023
Michael Leigh
Hi Jane - sorry to hear you had trouble navigating this website. I've had trouble with it in the past but mostly it seems OK for me at least. Good luck with the Lundy project. You must tell us about it - any pics? A website?
Dec 16, 2023
Mail Art Martha
Michael! My post went to somebody in Kent then! It has the senders address so it should come back to me. I shall redirected to Cheshire.
Dec 19, 2023
Michael Leigh
No probs. I expect it will be passed onto me - Kevin and James are good correspondents. Suprised you don't know them? Kevin has been mail arting for 40 years at least. So he tells me! I have no reason to doubt him. Sorry for confusion. Merry Xmas!
Dec 19, 2023
Mail Art Martha
Thank you for your mail, Michael, and Hazel's! I do know Kevin and James, only that I do not memorize addresses so I did not recognize it. Oh, well, it is all in the family then.
Dec 20, 2023
Michael Leigh
Dec 26, 2023
Michael Leigh
Jolly Boxing Day to all! Just a few shots of my workroom walls. Top photo is wrong angle - needs turning 90 degrees. Some of Hazel Jones' early works.
Dec 26, 2023
Katerina Nikoltsou (MomKat)
Dec 26, 2023
Katerina Nikoltsou (MomKat)
Warm greetings to all UK friends xxx
Dec 26, 2023
Michael Leigh
Thanks Katerina - same to you!
Dec 27, 2023
Michael Leigh
Jan 7