Charity Stores and Skype

Thrift stores in England are a must see.  They are not tucked away on a low rent district.  In Ilkley there are at least 6 charity stores and they are right next do to a high end retail store like Clark stores or J Crew.    Anna Katherine and I discovered these as way to decorate our home.  Our home is brand new.  We are looking for items to hang on the walls.  We rented furniture from a company named David Phillips.  Included in our rentals are silverware, dishes and pot and pans.  The charity stores are fantastic.  They cannot accept or sell lamps. 

Even though I am not working I stay very busy so far.  I gave up my great sales job for this adventure.   However, I held on to some volunteer jobs including PTSA President of the best high school in the world, Huntsville High School.  GO BIG RED!  HHS has an amazing PTSA board and I knew that would do outstanding job supporting HHS with or without me in the USA.  We will be skyping our meetings.

Skype is an amazing technology.   When I was a child in Huntsville and attended one of many field trips to the Space and Rocket Center I remember the exhibit of the 2 TV sets where you and a buddy would try to communicate with each other.  There was a lot of static and the picture was anything but clear.  The tour guide said, "Just think, one day you will be able to communicate from house to house with this technology."  That day has arrived..   Before we left, Anna Katherine downloaded Skype on my dad's computer.  My mother was very sad that now we have decided to move to England.  In my lifetime I have rarely lived outside my 35801 zip code.  When Anna Katherine demonstrated Skype by skyping with Hal, my mother felt a lot better.  They can see and talk to us.  We Skype our sons.  Ben is at UNA and Thomas is at Auburn.  I love seeing them even though I am thousands of miles away.

This may be old news-all this Skype talk but it has made this journey so much easier.  Anna Katherine missed homecoming at HHS.  She Skype with her friends while they got ready then when they had their picture made they picked up the laptop and Anna Katherine appeared in several of the pictures and got to see all the girls, dates and parents.