Sir Winston and myself were upstairs in the attic.  Our attic is a  rather large place and has  been comfortably  renovated so as to make a couple of extra rooms.  One of these rooms has been converted into a study, and it is the study,  where Sir Winston and myself often “hang-out”.

We  heard a commotion coming from below.

   Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!

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Mr Midnight darted up the stairs (taking two steps at a time) , sprinted across the attic floor towards the study and with over-excitement and excess speed, he crashed into a pile of empty removal boxes which had been neatly stacked in the corner.  The pupils in  his  eyes were as black as the night and after gathering his senses, he hasted into the study with which to inform us of his excitement.

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   Daddy! Daddy!,    I´ve seen the great  village flying thing!

I was basking in the sun  on the balcony when the majestic creature swooped over my head!  What a sight!   Fantastic!

   I´m not following you Mr Midnight (as usual) 🙂

What does he mean Sir Winston?  Mr Midnight often seems to talk in riddles.

   I apologise for Mr Midnights lack of articulation.  His main interests in life seem to be aimed at either eating or sleeping.  You see what can happen if you don´t get a decent education!

He means he has seen the village stork.

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About four or five years ago  a pair of storks visited our village.  Since then, they have decided to visit our village year after year; arriving in March and leaving in September.  Mr Midnight is often fascinated by the sight of them and on  rare occassions when they fly over our house, he will often go beserk with joy.

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   It´s such a gracious being and lives in  freedom.  I love it!  It must be great to feel so free.

   You are  ALREADY free Mr Midnight.  Cats do what they want to do. It´s part of our nature.  Unlike humans, we do live in freedom. (At least those of us who are  not having to live a life of suffering because of nobody wanting  to take us home with them).

I feel sorry for human beings because although many believe that they live in freedom, the majority do not.   With which to  earn their money, they must  visit places of which most do not want to go.  They are tied to the rules and  regulations of their communities and their Governments are continually lying to them.

The problem with the “lying rulers” is that the majority of  “normal” humans  appear to be  either too lazy to do anything about the situation or they have simply given up thinking for themselves and seeking their own “truths” .

I would even go as far as to say that most humans do not really want to live in  real freedom.  True freedom seems to  be inconvenient  because  many humans  would then  have to start making their own  decisions  and take responsibility for their actions but then again, this may indeed, be the path of the human race.

   At least most of us cats are free and Mr Stork seems to do alright for himself.   Where does Mr Stork live Sir Winston?

   Storks often build their homes in high places.  Their homes are usually large constructions and are made out of   small spiky things  which are found littered around our kingdom.  I´m not quite sure where “our” Stork lives because as you are aware, I do not  like to venture much farther than the end of the hard surface where the noisy, smelly  things go.

   The hard surface thingy is called “a road” Sir Winston.  The stork has built its nest close to the river  at the other side of the village,  on one of the arms  protruding  from an  electricity pylon.

   Now you´re losing me daddy. What´s  a “nest” and what is an electricity pylon?  The pylon thing sounds quite  frightening and the “protruding” word   somehow gives me the creeps.

      A nest is what English-speaking human beings call a home for a bird. As you should already  be aware from previous postings  Mr Midnight, a bird is what you call “a flying thing”. An electricity pylon is a man-made structure  which is built like a large tree and  which among other things,  helps to  distribute light to our house when it is dark  and keeps all our household modern appliances functioning.  Do you understand?

   I think so.  A pylon is an important object which helps you get my food out of those strange, metal packages.

   Yes, something like that.

   Anyway, what are you both up to?

   Until your excited, dramatic appearance, I was lying comfortably under daddy´s desk examining some of his postal exhibits.

    I really can´t understand the fascination for pieces of paper with small pictures printed upon them,  although I do find some of them nice. Can you find that nice camel stamp daddy?

  We´ve already shown the readers  your camel stamp  in a previous blog posting Mr Midnight. We don´t want to become  tiresome  and bore our readers  to death do we.  It´s bad enough already what with talking about storks and  electricity pylons.

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The two “lads” settled down under the desk and started to examine a pile of unsorted stamps which I had recently  purchased at an auction. I started to catalogue some East German stamps.

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   I´ll help you sort some of daddy´s stamps   Sir Winston.  Some of them are  so old and they pong a little. I really  can´t understand the obsession  for doing this. Why does daddy  like these old things so much?

   Perhaps because he enjoys  living in the past. I must say, I also  find them absorbing. It´s a little bit like  meditation.

   Yes, you could say that Sir Winston. Stamps usually  make me  want to fall to sleep aswell!

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We had spent about half-an-hour sifting through our collectables when all of a sudden,  Mr Midnight sprang up and   meowed loudly.

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    –  LOOK !   A funny looking stamp!!   A stamp just like Mr Storks house!!!!!
   Let me have a look.
   And me please!
   My goodness Mr Midnight. It looks like you have found a “stamp error”.   Where´s my  German rarities catalogue?
    It´s behind you daddy. Open your eyes!

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I immediately found the page in the catalogue describing Mr Midnights discovery.
He had found a 1947 stamp from Saarland. It was the 75 Pf stamp bearing the catalogue number 222 I    and was the error  “Storchennest auf Turmdach” (Storks nest on Tower).

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   What a great find Mr Midnight. Well done. It´s a remarkable piece because it´s still joined to another 75 Pf stamp not  showing  the error.
   Storks seem to be quite popular at the moment. Little pieces of paper collecting is not such a bad idea after all. Can we show the readers my find daddy?
   Oh all right. I don´t wish to bore them but your discovery is a remarkable find.  By the way,  just in case as  Sir Winston has already  pointed out,  you can´t see so well, the “nest” is on the right stamp on the top  of the right tower.

  Sifting through piles of postage stamps is quite  exhausting. I think I´ll crash-out on this nice plastic bag if you don´t mind.

   And I`m going  to dream about  storks and electricity pylons.  🙂

(c) mags 2013