Many thanks to those who replied to my request a few months ago for information on the location of the village postal agencies. I have now returned from my trip to Andorra. I found all the French agencies without difficulty. Times of opening of the village agencies are now standardised as 9h to 12h with the exception of Pas de la Casa (10h to 13h). The exception for Pas de la Casa may be temporary. The agency is currently without a home. Service is provided from a Portakabin adjacent to the Tourist Office kiosk near the bottom of the town, presumably with staff brought in from elsewhere. Stamp collectors should note that the main Spanish post office in Andorra la Vella apparently has no stamps on sale. The self-adhesive labels are used for all counter transactions and are sold for use in lieu of stamps. The agencies have a motley assortment of labels and stamps (not very many). Some arithmetical agility is sometimes needed to find a combination to fit the tariff. :-) Collectors who want to use stamps rather than labels on their mailings might be wish to obtain supplies before visiting Andorra. All the French offices have, as normal, plentiful supplies of stamps although the main offices uses self-adhesive labels for counter transactions unless you ask for stamps to be used. If preparing registered mail in advance leave plenty of room for the label as it is needed anyway for the registration. The agencies use conventional registration labels which are much smaller so there is no problem there. Spanish agencies: Where the times of opening are known, they seem to be 9h to 11h or 9h to 12h. The morning seems to be the best time to try if the opening hours are not displayed. Where the agency is located in a shop, e.g. St Julia, they may be prepared to accept mail during the shop hours. I would still be interested to have information on the following agencies (i.e. whether they have closed or relocated): Les Escaldes: Last known in municipal buildings on the left hand side of the road from Les Escaldes to Engordany (the one starting just above the church). It has now gone from there. Closed or relocated (where)? Ordino: Not found. I asked at the French agency and they told me "C'est ferm�". Mail posted in the box still gets an Ordino postmark. Soldeu: As far as I know the Spanish authorities have never succeeded in recruiting an agent at Soldeu. Mail posted in the box receives a Soldeu postmark (applied, I believe, at Canillo). Pas de la Casa: For many years the situation was the same as at Soldeu. However, in 1990 Gilbert Goudard of Philandorre reported that there was a Spanish agency operating in a car parts store in the Galeria de l'Os Blanc. The car parts store has now moved but I found it still trading, a short distance away at the top of the large car park in the centre of the town (entry/exit either side of the ice rink). They are no longer operating a postal agency. If anyone has seen registered mail (or any transaction requiring counter service) from any of these four places, I would be interested to know the date (latest date seen for Les Escaldes and Ordino; any date for Soldeu and Pas de la Casa). Loan of envelopes or documents for scanning would be particularly appreciated. I would pay postage - registered if required - for sending and return of them. Please e-mail me if you can help. For a future issue of the Valira Torrent magazine (probably March 2000), I am planning an illustrated article "Andorran Post Offices Past and Present". If anyone has photographs of any Andorran post offices from any era and would be willing to loan them for scanning, I would be very pleased to hear from them. Postage and registration would be paid for sending and return. It would be appreciated if Jordi would re-post this request in Catalan. -- E. J. Jewell (Hon. Librarian, Andorran Philatelic Study Circle) <URL:http://www.chy-an-piran.demon.co.uk/> <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- Per donar-se de baixa del Cafe: http://andorraweb.com/aw/caf/index_ca.php3 To unsubscribe from the Cafe: http://andorraweb.com/aw/caf/index_en.php3 -- AndorraWeb -- http://andorraweb.com -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
