The first day

of the new year. This one Chinese. The Year of the Horse. For a long time, perhaps for a dozen years or so, I believed myself to be a Horse. Let's assume I've known my astrological sign for much longer than my zodiac sign. Let's assume for some reason the latter system wasn't widely spoken about in the Soviet Union. But then, somewhere in the late 80s perhaps astrology became popular and so I learned about the years of the animals. I learned that each year was named and ruled by an animal, and according to the list I was a Horse (just like pretty much everyone else in my class was). Well, years later I realized the Chinese years didn't necessarily start on January 1st. So I'm not a Horse after all. But I get along well with them.

Another phenomenon I've heard of but had no clear understanding of, are the first day covers. As I send letters maybe a bit more often than my average countrywomen I also visit post office quite regularly and do my research on stamps of various denominations and designs (just to see if anything new and cute is out there). So I'd heard about first days for new stamps, and had heard that they put special cancellation seals on mail. I guess I never bothered to figure out how exactly those things were done.

Today, however, I was in the post office sending a package and noticed there was a group of gentlemen huddled over a desk. I needed a counter space of my own to polish the package so I went and sat among the group. One of the men told another how he has a friend that really likes squirrels and the other one said to have a pal interested in all things Oriental. I couldn't help but had to glance over to see what kind of men were they, chatting about such unmanly things. Then I noticed they were lining up stamps on colorful cards or envelopes - oh, philatelists! And then I noticed they took turns reaching into a cardboard box in the middle of the desk, taking out a handstamp, and pressing it down on their deliverables - oh, first day of issue cancellations! So, I waited for my turn, and reached in my hand, and put down a cancellation myself. I'm not saying it would be the last time, either.