A stamp of approval

Those Brits among you may feel the same way as me, there is something quite sacred about a postage stamp in Britain. It has the queen's head on it, and when we were little we believed if you defaced it you would end up in Prison for treason! Well maybe not, but it is illegal to deface the queen's head on coins, notes or stamps. Would a Policeman actually arrest you for it though I don't know.




Anyhow, here in France there is no queen, the president chooses the theme for the stamps, which is currently Marianne et l'Europe, Marianne de Beaujard is apparently an allegory (metaphor?) of the French Republic. My research is leading me to a suprising number of blogs, reports and websites about stamps, stamp collecting and stamp news, which wasn't really the point of my post!





What is the point???

Well, I think it's well known in France that going to La Poste is a chore. They were reknowned for the extremely long queues, but La Poste in Lannion doesn't have that problem anymore. They have become very modern with franking machines you can use yourself, and lots of staff to help reduce waiting times, different desks for different functions etc. Much like a modern Post Office in the UK. The problem in Lannion is La Poste is located in the busiest car park in town, you have to get a ticket to go in (although it is free for the first hour), it's still a hassle. There is a free car park, but you have to get there before 8am to get a space in that one! On Market Day I don't even bother, it's not worth the stress!

As I like to do things the easy way, always, I looked into buying postage online.  Well I was amazed at how easy it was, and yesterday I printed my own stamps!!
https://www.montimbrenligne.laposte.fr/
You can choose the design, choose the weight and size of your envelope or packet, choose the size of your labels, pay and print! Simple!

Normal stamps are of course available in the local Tabac/Presse, and I have one of these near our house, but with my recent clothes selling activity online I am loathe to go to La Poste everyday to weigh the packets, so this is my new way forward!