Owls “Coming Soon”

Today is the first day of issue for Thailand’s new 4-stamps and souvenir sheet depicting owls. I love buying stamps on the day of release. Sometimes the clerk will let me use the old handstamp to add a Phuket postmark to the official first day cover.

I dragged myself out of bed much earlier than usual for a Monday morning and made the brief walk to Phuket’s main post office, dodging much heaver-than-normal traffic. One of the princesses was in town for a royal visit to a couple of local schools so a few streets were blocked-off.

Arriving at the Montree-Talang Intersection (yes, they do name them here), I paused to take a few photos of the old Post & Telegraph Office for a future blog. The historic building houses the Phuket Philatelic Museum and I was pleased to see a banner advertising the Thailand 2013 World Stamp Exhibition which opens in Bangkok on Friday.

I walked into the museum and the lady in the shop waved me to a chair. However, when I asked about the Owls (flapping my arms like wings to make myself clear) she told me they were unavailable. “Coming soon,” she apologized with the famous Thai smile. I got the same response when I inquired about the new issue of the Philatelic Bulletin.

In the seven years that I have lived in Phuket, this was the first time I was unable to purchase stamps on their day of issue. Granted, I haven’t done this too often but still… Perhaps Thai Post has its full attention on the big stamp show and has forgotten to supply the provinces. Mai bpen rai. It doesn’t matter. Apparently, the post office works on Thai time as well.

All was not lost. I rejoined Postcrossing yesterday and had my first batch of postcards ready to send. I selected some nice stamps for those (last year’s issue depicting Phuket’s very own Promthep Cape) and watched as the clerk postmarked each one. All five are traveling to Russia. I’l report back when the first one is registered as “received”.

Well, I will try again on Friday when a set of eight stamps (third in the Thailand 2013 series) is scheduled to be released. Fingers crossed.