Adj sesquipedal or sesquipedalian (of objects or words) a foot and a half long — of words, very long and pedantic.  [L. sesqui — semisque —semis, half a unit, que, and] © Chambers Concise Dictionary 1991

Hello 2018!  Woke up with that word floating about my head.  I have always liked its rhythm, and I quickly realised to my utter chagrin that I did not know what it meant, so off to the dictionary room I hied myself, with all possible haste, whilst maintaining the silence of the hour (04:20).

BTW wishes everyone a peaceful, happy, healthy and prosperous new year,  one without fake news and duplicity would be nice, but let’s not be carried away.

Here’s a pre-decimal conundrum —  why did Paul’s dad choose to paint a cottage ever so slightly differently for this stamp illustration?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have looked this one up, since it was one I did not have in my collection.  I think it would have been most unlikely that a stamp valued at 1/6 (one shilling and sixpence), the equivalent of several pounds today, would have come my way, unless used to post a gift.  The decimal equivalent of 7½ pence gives no clue as to its real value.  It was one of a set depicting house claddings* from the four countries of the UK.  I have several copies of the Fife Harling (5d), but neither the Cotswold Limestone (9d) nor the Welsh Stucco (1s).  That must have hurt at the time; one of the chief joys, for me, of stamp collecting is possessing all the members of the set.   One job I had in John Menzies involved logging sets of OCR** documents posted in from all over Britain.  Heavy parcels used lots of stamps; it took me less than a day to amass a full set whenever there was a new issue.  Happy times.

Meanwhile, having had to admit to myself that I have lost my camera, I am researching the purchase of a replacement.  I do not often lose things, and in the upheaval of the festive season that is not a statement made lightly.  Yes, I have a more than adequate camera on my phone but the faff involved in finding and sharing a picture is major.  Hopefully I may then return to posting swathes of credible photo journalism (ha ha, that would be nice).

I have resisted the lure of the teapot for long enough, and there are calendars to change.   Onwards and upwards!

* sounds boring but isn’t.  Stamp collecting makes you look at things differently.  Philately will get you everywhere.

**Optical Character Recognition.  It was very new at the time and in one of those timey wimey twists, the documents were sent to a building which would become the home of RBS Registrars from 1988 – 97, my Sighthill office home for 9 years.