My Thanks to the Indian Embassy Visa Department

But before I pour out my gratitude to the Indian Embassy, here is the third and final update on the Red Bicycle…and yes, you have guessed. It is over. One day, it was there and the next one, it wasn’t. But not so quickly. As we passed by, mourning our loss, Hazel suddenly saw our bicycle over the fence.

So there it was. But the story does not end. Two days later, it had been removed completely. Alas, the Gemeinde (Local Council) must have decided that you could have too much of a good thing. All good things come to an end. Sorry folks.

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Back to the main story of the day.

As you have guessed from the title, I am indebted to the Visa Department of the Indian Embassy. Firstly, they processed our visa applications for our September trip to India in four days. That would be sufficient for thanks, but probably insufficient for a mention in my blog.

The second and blogworthy reason is to do with the method of returning our passports. They put the passports in separate envelopes, sent them registered post and put CHF 5 stamps (about £3) on each envelope (The Swiss post office also deserves a mention here for placing a delicate postmark on them).

You may be puzzled at this point, but I can still feel my sense of surprise and pleasure at seeing a high value stamp, neatly franked, arriving at our apartment, ready to be soaked off, dried and placed with other Swiss stamps, which have followed this philatelic route.

I do not remember the last time this happened. The need for commercial efficiency has reduced the high value stamp to something of a philatelic rarity, and certainly not to be used for its original postal purpose. The franking machines, both in the post rooms of companies and at the post office itself have seen an end to this.

In England, the Post Office itself goes one stage further in its battle against stamp collectors, by ensuring that any stamp, foolishly affixed to an envelope for the purposes of sending a letter, is completely obliterated with a black or blue chalk mark, that looks as if it has been applied by a two year child.

My two CHF 5 used Swiss stamps bear the image of a Catillac pear, which, according to the Guardian Life and Style section, is a great cooker (if you are interested in this sort of thing).

I will now place my Catillac pear-imaged stamps in my very poor and neglected stamp collection, with the hope that only the Indian Embassy will use these stamps and thus my philatelic gems will form an important and valuable part of my pension plan.