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As a kid I had several hobbies I learned – or “inherited” – from my father and one of my uncles. Collecting. I started collecting various things and items, but I would say that there were perhaps three things that was most prominent. It is at least so in my mind. 

There was plants – collecting them and pressing them, putting them in a book. This was also something my sister had done at times, and would be something we would do together on occasion. 

The other thing was stamps. I had so many stamps. Thousands and thousands. I would hunt them on envelopes ands if I could take them if I found someone I didn’t have from before. I would take the letter and wet it so the glue on the stamp would dissolve, use various types of pliers and dry them carefully and put them under pressure to flatten them. When they had dried, I would proudly give it a place according to nationality, year and type or rarity. I would sit with my magnifying glass and look at them, try to fix bent corners and such, and would talk to my uncle about the different stamps. I have quite fond memories of these times and it warms my heart to look back at spending time with my father and uncle like this. 

The last collection hobby – and the one I probably have kept the longest, though not very diligently – is coins. This I also have learned from my father, and for a long time I really enjoyed this hobby. I still have some of the coins, and I am adding a picture of a silver coin made in celebration of an anniversary of the end of German occupation of Europe, and an intact roll of Norwegian copper coins from the 50s and 60s.  Nothing extremely valuable or anything, but I like the coins. It’s as simple as that.