Busy Night at Temple Bar, from Postcrosser Paul
The 82c stamp from 2008 shows the two ships, HMS Agamemnon and USS Niagara, that laid the cable connecting Trinity Bay, Newfoundland and Knightstown on Valentia Island. It took several attempts to successfully connect the cable.
Initially, messages were sent by an operator sending Morse code. The reception was very bad on the 1858 cable, and it took two minutes to transmit just one character (a single letter or a single number) The first message took over 17 hours to transmit, which though frustratingly long, was still faster than the previous 10 days by ship.
How many of you remember the delay on transatlantic phone calls which made conversations with the family from away a bit confusing?! It would seem as if both of you were talking at the same time and sometimes you would hear echoes of your own voice.
anyway, after your late night in Dublin you could look into some recovery time on Valentia Island here
This second stamp I am not quite so enamoured with. I like frogs, but this is perhaps a bit too green and dark. It was hard to see properly without magnification. The Common Frog is the only species of frog found in Ireland and is the most common of the three species of amphibians. Their population is declining so it is now a protected species. There is an interesting and informative article on them in the Irish Peatland Conservation which you can read here.
See more Irishness on stamps here
I hope you are feeling better - what a nasty combination of complaints. and a Happy St Patrick's Day to you.
ReplyDeleteit has not been a good week.
Deleteand I am still sick.......
The stamps are always so lovely. You must have quite a collection.
ReplyDeleteMaggie s
Nuts in May
the stamps are getting out of hand - at least until I find the perfect way of storing them!
DeleteTwo fine stamps. Ireland has some great commemoratives.
ReplyDeleteCute frog and a beautifully green stamp. I've managed to get a reference to Valentia in my post too.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry you are not feeling well (reading your previous posts). I do not like frogs, myself, but your stamp is from Ireland, and is green too!
ReplyDeleteThank you for participating.
I'm not so keen on the frog, a bit too up close and personal for me, but the 2008 cable laying ships stamp is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteahh would love to teleport myself to a pub in dublin right now...great to see a commemorative stamp from ireland, and with a proper cancellation too! i love animal close-ups including this frog :)
ReplyDeleteThe postcard is something I'd love to receive as well!
ReplyDeleteAww - I have a fondness for frogs.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, I recall those phone calls. I remeber once many years ago I phoned a friend who was working in a castle in Scotland and the fun I had going thru about 3 different operators and finally ending up with my friend. Took ages and the accents were hilarious!
ReplyDelete