Happy New Year to you all......

Hello, well I am back in sunny Sydney.. lovely and hot here today... a bit different from London I can tell you.. although I enjoyed every minute of my three days there.... and a busy time I had from the minute I left Sydney..

for those of you interested.. I flew to Singapore.. spent a day there - unexpected I might add but had a good time with some site seeing included... then on to London.. hired a car.. treated myself to an upgrade at the airport.. to a Mercedes.. how nice was that.. well I did drive over 600 miles in three days so it was well worth it.. comfort is something I rather enjoy... sybarite me is true I have to admit... and included in that driving was short trip up to Birmingham to see Machin Man - great guy.. he knows so much about stamps and of course Machins and is so interesting to talk to... he took me to his local stamp shop and we
browsed there for an hour.. and I spent a few bob.. and then some... although brilliant prices.... and of course we went to his local for a beer .. I will show some of the stamps I bought in a future piece.. and he gave me a lovely Christmas present, including this cover.. rather nice I think...

It is the 1978 10p booklet issue, catalogued in SG Concise as X843m... and with a Windsor franking as you can see. Nice addition to anyones collection don't you think. I also got a bag of GB.. hundreds of stamps.. to big for my carry on baggage ( Heathrow is very strict these days as you may know) but they arrived safely in Sydney I am pleased to say... I will try to sort over the coming days / weeks.. I will put some into my Childrens Corner ( see http://www.cddstamps.com , a few, hopefully, into my collection and maybe.... keep reading over the coming days and weeks... a few for prizes..

Jumping back to Singapore... spent New Years eve there.. queuing for the flight to London... in Singapore airport.. and then got on the flight at about midnight their time.. very comfortable seat I will admit ... and they did serve champagne to me.. well I think it has something to do with the seat you are sitting in.. I don't mean to sound clever by the way but someone has to sit there don't they

Flight back was brilliant as well.. lots of champers again.. well it helps you sleep is my excuse... jet lag.. at my age.. never!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stamps .. what about stamps.. well thank you to all who wrote saying they had received their Christmas Competition prizes, Thanks to everyone who read the blog in 2006 and I hope I can make it interesting enough for you to keep reading it in 2007 and that each of you tell one friend to read it as well.... . oh and finally.. have a read of Roy's (Machin Man's blog.. see link http://machinmania.blogspot.com/ ) it is brilliant.. and yes he talks about my trip to see him.. you will have to read to learn more.. of course you might also enjoy his material on stamps..

Happy New Year and best wishes... Michael