Originally Posted by
Graham Shaw
Yes David. I don't know, or can't keep up with, today's school age kids, so I don't know how they learn about geography....
Who remembers some of those exotic sounding places mentioned on stamps ,the names now living on in our minds for ever; Suomi (Finland),Burkina Faso (Upper Volta),Nyasaland(Malawi),Bechuanaland (Botswana),Helvetia (Switzerland),Tanganyika (Tanzania),Bahawalpur (a Pakistan state, I think!) and my favourite-Ceskoslovenska (Czechoslovakia-long before it was divided!)
We had to fish out our encyclopaedias, or traipse to the library to look those places up, before we could proudly lick that hinge and lovingly insert that tiny perforated square into one's treasured album, before carefully hiding it away in a cupboard with 'Keep Out-do not touch on pain of death'-and hoping your little brother will heed the warning. And how grown up you felt at school and you said to your mate "Swap you a 20 baht Siamese for your East Timor 30 rupiah one?".
Bet that's brought back a few memories !.