Week #2017.15 on SébPhilatélie

Quite a week for non philatelic items viewed by a philatelist maniac.

Monday 10 April: "Fedex quests" in video game.
Players of aventure-action and open world video games have developed their own slang along the episodes of different series of such games, from The Elder Scrolls to the current Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, including the part-parodicly American, part-seriously criminal Grand Theft Autos.

Auto-parody of such quests in the last Zelda: this character accepts to buy you specific mushrooms by packs of 55... (Nintendo, via SuperSoluce.com)

One of those expressions is a reproach: while some missions are compulsory to conclude the main story, the open world permits a lot of exploration and meetings of characters asking the player for help to carry a letter or find some goods.

In practice these secondary missions call for a lot or return trips, hence the expression "Fedex quest" appeared it seems in the 1990s when the develivery company was a star in America: you move everywhere on the map to carry, bring, etc. like a Fedex truck driver.

Wednesday 12 April: Challenging yet pleasant conferences at the RPSL.
A summary of two recent filmed conferences at the Royal Philatelic Society London, whose display summaries are available for all the Society's website.

Their topic and very specialist approch would have me run away as quick as possible a few years ago, but the volunteering philatelists and postal historians were so enthusiast and good story-tellers that anyone curious could entertain discovering the postal stationery of the Orange Free State, a Boer republic of the late 19th century, by Mike Smith (23 February), and the first decades of the psotal history of South Australia by Pat Grimwood-Taylor (6 April).

To watch: an Orange stamped card used in short-lived Republic of Stellaland, a card signed by Tolkien's father - yes, the Tolkien born in Bloemfontein and major creator of languages and fantasy universe. On the other side of the Indian Ocean, many destinations from South Australia were presented, plus a letter from a small oulet in the Northern Territory to Winbledon, England and its "Too Late" mark... that led to weeks of travelling the wilds within and the ocean without the Austral continent.

Friday 14 April: boomerang effects in the Netherlands and for the Maldives.
The force of philatelists were shown to two organisations these recent times.

First when PostNL decided, starting January 1st, to call back all datestamps from postal counters in private shops, meaning that stamps on all parcels and registered letters would be pen cancelled (standard letters continuing to be machine cancelled in sorting plants). The post company will resume cancellations at postal counters next June with bright new datestamps. A story to discover and follow on StampBoards forum.

WOPA, the Gibraltar-organised website to gather official philatelic bureaus to sell their stamp at face values to international clients, interrupted the page of the Maldives after only a full day, when the Commonwealth Stamp Opinion blog's webmaster and readers wrote down their doubts that the Maldives postal operator was the seller. They believe the agency providing the very numerous stamps and minisheets in the name of Bangladesh was behind. One of WOPA officers intervenes to assure he will check again.

After all, the other postal operators who are issuing too much stamps, have the openess to sell them themselves on WOPA.

Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 April: Open class chocolate between Chester and Grenada.
Theses Easter articles were transled on SebPhilately's.

Note: no, this blogger did not receive any free chocolate from Rococo, but is eager to get back to their Chester or London stores... Is thinking of ordering 2 kilograms of choco soon...