Corbière Lighthouse, Jersey

Believe it or not, the cards I shall post here today have been in my draft section since last July... I mean, maybe I could have waited until it reached the one year anniversary after all, as one of my greatest blogging 'achievements'...

How I ended up in that situation I'm not quite sure... but well, as you can see, haven't been the most regular blogger in the first place, so it shouldn't come as a surprise.

But lets cut the rant, now that these cards have finally deserved to see the light of the day... and for today the subject of postcards is Lighthouses! One of my all time favourite topics... and the favourite topic of many people out there :)

First is the Corbière Lighthouse from Jersey, which I ended up receiving twice... once as a swap with Martin and once as a surprise from Janek :)
It is located at the extreme south-western point of Jersey in St. Brélade. The name means "a place where crows gather" even though seagulls have long since displaced the crows from their coastal nesting sites.

The rocks and extreme tidal variation around this stretch of Jersey's coast have been treacherous for navigation and La Corbière has been the scene of many shipwrecks, including that of the mail packet "Express" on 20 September 1859.

As I said, I have received this card twice, and both came with lovely stamps.
The stamp above on the right is from a set of four Christmas stamps issued in 1999 (never would have guessed this was a Christmas stamp unless written on it). The one of the left is from a set of 6 transport stamps issued in 1998, with this one showing the Morris Bus.

Regarding the other two stamps - the one on the left is from a set of 8 Wild Flowers stamps issued in 2005, showing the lesser knapweed (Centaurea nigra). The other one is from 2007 from another set of Wild Flowers stamps, showing the Shrubby St. John's Wort (Hypericum androsaemum).

St. Brelade, Jersey

Well, this is how the update was supposed to look yesterday....brought to you with a 24 hour delay :)

With the first card coming from Jersey...and no, not the US New Jersey....but Jersey in Europe...of which existence i had no idea until i started this postcard-exchange thing. And id be happy to know i wasnt the only ignorant one out there :)
Jersey, or the Bailiwick of Jersey, is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. But its not a part of UK nor EU, but rather a separate possession of the Crown.
If one year ago, i had a million dollar question about where on Earth is Jersey, make sure i would have gone home totally penniless. In order to make it more clear to you about where Jersey is, here comes the map:

 
Jersey itself is divided into 12 parishes, and all of them have access to the sea. They are all named after the saints to whom their ancient parish churches are dedicated. And on this card in particular, you can see an image from somewhere in St. Brelade, which occupies the southwestern part of the island and is the second largest parish of the island.
The name St. Brelade is derived from a 6th century Celtic or Welsh "wandering saint" called Saint Branwalader or Saint Brelade, who is said to have been the son of the Cornish king, Kenen. He is also said to have been a disciple of Samson of Dol, and worked with this churchman in Cornwall and the Channel Islands.      

Well...proud to have this card...and yes, it is indeed a new country in my collection...with some great lighthouse stamps you can see below :)

these two awesome stamps were issued in 2003, coming from a total set of 6 commemorative stamps, called "Jersey lighthouses" (second series).