Here be Dragons!

A few mythical creatures have been flying through my letterbox over the past couple of weeks, signifying the start of Chinese New Year - The Year of the Dragon! Following on from the Australian stationery envelope recorded below, the most recent addition to my collection was an illustrated cover from Canada.

Canada 2012 Year of the Dragon stamp

Nothing in the way of a special stamp from the UK, though an over - priced "smiler" sheet has been produced with a variety of stylised dragon design labels and street scenes of celebrations. Shame the Royal Mail couldn't have used some Welsh dragon definitives instead of the fireworks greetings stamp. How come Wales have taken up a mythical creature for it's national symbol? ....and a red one at that.

The UK's contribution to the Year of the Dragon

This would have been an ideal opportunity to reissue the dragon stamp from the mythical creatures set issued a couple of years ago - a more worthy contribution to the vast array of dragon stamps that will be flooding the market.

I undertook a little research into the celebration of this event and found that the Chinese take nine days holiday to see the new year in. UK government take note! I discovered that I am a "Rooster" (though sometimes referred to as the "Cockerel" or maybe the less flattering "Chicken") and this gave me some very positive personality traits, such as 'hardworking', 'strong willed' and confident. The article then went on to offer such adjectives as 'well organised' and 'good time keeper'...how so wrong!!