The budding Amaryllises I bought for last weekend are opening up their flowers now. :-) The pink one in my living room, and the red one in the kitchen.
At the beginning of the week gone by, I posted my "far away" Christmas cards. (Asia, Australia, North America) I hope they'll all reach their destinations in time this year.
The ones going to other countries within Europe (including Great Britain) will be posted some time next week. Most of my Swedish ones are still waiting to be written, but should be posted before the 15th (recommended by PostNord Sweden).
While pottering about with this, I learned that postage will be going up again next year - by around 15%. With the general inflation and energy crisis, I suppose not really surprising; but it's beginning to feel expensive. So I will at least be cutting back on postcrossing (i.e. international exchange of postcards with random strangers)...
From 1 January 2023, the cost to send an international letter or postcard from Sweden will be 30 SEK - which currently equals $2,9 / €2,75 / £2,3.
I still have quite a lot of unwritten postcards in stock, though, so have decided to prolong my 'transition period' a bit by ordering a good supply of 'forever' stamps before New Year - at the old price. ;-)
They are beautiful. My favorite is the second one. It looks like there is a light emanating from inside the bud! We never know when postage will go up!
ReplyDeleteGinny, I suspected it, so went searching for the info...!
Deletejust use email and blog like I do, I have not mailed cards in 20 years maybe more. email is just as good to me. save you money
ReplyDeleteSandra, well that won't work with Postcrossing, since that is all about sending physical cards ;-) And it won't reduce the number of cards I already have "in stock" either... I'm sure I'll continue for a while yet to send some paper mail now and then (as well as emails) - just because I enjoy it!
DeleteYou have done well in getting your Christmas mail organised like that; I shall be doing the same but have not yet started. My goal is to have my faraway cards off tomorrow, those within (geographical) Europe by next weekend, and the few inside Germany a few days after that. My parcels to family and friends in the UK should be ready tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteHere, postage increases almost every year, no surprises there. Same is true for public transport fares.
Same here, Meike, but it's very noticeable now that inflation is higher than it's been in a long time. My own costs for public transport are negligible though as I never travel out of town now, and within town I have a senior bus pass allowing me free fares in the non-rush hours... (Not that I make much use of that either as have walking distance to the city centre...)
DeleteMy favourite is the second bloom too, but they are all a treat to look at on a grey winter's day.
ReplyDeletePost here is excessive. especially as most of my cards go to the UK, and much more expensive now it's outside the EU. I send very few cards, and like Sandra, send emails instead. Every year the card money, plus more, goes to a local dog charity and the Red Cross, who do the most wonderful work locally. The last couple of years there have been extra donations, towards gifts for local children whose families are struggling with the cost of living crisis.
Having recently been searching dog rescues for a new companion, I wish I could give to all of them. It's heartbreaking to know that few of the residents will be adopted and more are coming in every day.
CG, most of my Christmas cards go within Sweden, and don't really cost me all that much. The total number of Christmas cards I send also keeps going down, as many friends have also switched to digital greetings. For me, exchanging postcards with some like-minded friends and strangers around the world is something I do all year round, though. So that's what makes it worth while for me to stock up some more 'forever' stamps before they raise the price at New Year. (Not really thinking as far ahead as next Christmas.)
DeleteI like the Amaryllis. The subject of postage is a difficult one. When Britain left the EU our postage to Europe went up to the International (ie Rest of The World) rate. The problem seems to me to be that as the postage is increased fewer people use the postal service and it becomes a vicious circle.
ReplyDeleteGraham, we only have domestic vs International postage nowadays. (No special rate for the rest of Europe.) International costs twice as much - even to Norway or Denmark. I agree with you that the more they raise the postage, the fewer people send letters and postcards. I think that's part of the strategy. We also only get letters and cards delivered 2-3 days a week now. One week Mon-Wed-Fri, the nextTue-Thu.
DeleteYour Amaryllis are lovely, they will really brighten your days. I agree with Graham, postage prices increase, fewer people use the post. I admire how organised you are with your Christmas greetings.
ReplyDeletePauline, I do love the amaryllis this time of year :) As for the Christmas greetings, at least I *try* to be organised. Sometimes I seem to end up posting them too late anyway, though. Especially during the pandemic postal sevices have been rather unreliable...
DeleteLovely flowers, I'd be intersted in sending you a Christmas card from New Zealand next year.
ReplyDeleteAmy, if you'd like to exchange snail-mail adresses, send me an email (to mothmail-dawn @ yahoo.com) (11 months to change you mind, if you have second thoughts! lol)
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