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Are you getting excited about the Olympics? No, me neither. If you live in London, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that moving around the city in August will be like doing a triathalon for all us regular citizens, let alone the athletes themselves. And if you don’t live in London, it’s still an awful lot of billions spent on two God-awful mascots, an Olympic stadium that will be a white elephant in September and a whole lot of hoop-la. Much better to have spent the dosh on hospitals, surely? Or on compensating us all for bailing out the banks.
But there we are, the Olympics are happening anyway, and I promise I will do my best to enjoy them, even if it wears me out more than running 100 metres. Something which will no doubt help is a clever idea from the Royal Mail. For the first time, they will be featuring Team GB Gold Medallists on a stamp – issued the day after their win! How amazing is that? From hopeful to hero, and stuck proudly on the nation’s letters, in 24 hours. The aim is to use a photo taken during the winning event if possible, but otherwise they will feature a shot from a heat.
Never mind Team GB, the Royal Mail is winning a whole host of firsts all of its own with this scheme. It will be the first time a nation has issued Olympic stamps during the games. It’s also the first time the 500 post offices selected to sell the next-day stamps will open on Sunday. And it will be the first time they feature live action photography from the event itself. The Royal Mail’s team of photographers and graphic designers will be on stand-by to rush through the production of the stamps, waiting for the public to snap them up. Over 4,500 post offices will receive the stamps during the games, but you can register your interest now at the special Be The First page to collect the whole series.
And, as if that wasn’t enough firsts, the Royal Mail will also be the first postal administration to issue a set of stamps to commemorate the Paralympic Games, which open on 29th August. First class!
