Cyprus post box in Troodos Square, Mount Olympus

Last Wednesday 8th February 2012 we had to go to Troodos mountains as we needed to do a little shopping.

It was one of the days that vehicles were finally allowed up on Mount Olympus without the safety net of 4 wheel drive or snow chains.

So after finishing my half day at work it was a case of dash home from the office, grab a quick sandwich and off we went taking the Kantou / Omodos road towards Platres and then continuing up the Troodos road into the village square.

Although there was some rain after we passed Pachna village the drive was relatively easy - but the snow in Troodos was amazing! We stopped off to take some photos and buy some of the delicious warm, sweet nuts from one of the shops in the square. Gorgeous!

Here are some photos of the post box not far from the main car park.

It was a bit chilly, to say the least AND - I got my feet wet!

Personalised gifts using trains on stamps (thematics).

For those of you who don't actually collect stamps but perhaps know someone who does or even someone who is interested in certain types of memorabilia, here's a great way to make a personalised gift for them using postage stamps.

We collect and sell Cyprus stamps and for those of you who are familiar with postage stamps from Cyprus or some of the history of Cyprus itself, you may be aware that our beloved island did once have a fully functioning railway system operating from Nicosia...

My husband put a little something together at the beginning of last year to mark the history of the Cyprus Government Railway in Cyprus, which ran from 1905 to 1951.

In June 2010 there was a Cyprus stamp issue depicting trains on stamps and so, the item below came to fruition.

He used images from the Cyprus railway, combined it with an image of a ticket stub, made a place holder for the embedded 2 train stamps that were issued on 4th June 2010 and finally printed on buff coloured, aged card.

It was all put together using good old Microsoft Excel - see the template layout below:

The finished article framed looks really good but sadly, the photograph doesn't do it justice - hence my showing the original item outside of it's frame as shown in the first image.

So there you have it.
Stamps aren't just for sticking on envelopes to send stuff through the mail!