Erieversible

I requested, via the USPS website, for our mail redirection to start at the end of the week.  I was surprised to discover that the redirection service is free.  Of course, if you’ve used the service you know that, but in the UK it isn’t free.  Redirection there starts at £7.35 a month (around $11 at today’s rates).  We paid a significant amount for international redirection, but that $11 a month is for simple domestic redirection, the equivalent of the free service in the US.

Amazing.  I’m sure the public would understand that redirection costs money and would not object (too strongly) to paying a fee for the service?  It isn’t often you see an untapped revenue stream nowadays.

And speaking of exchange rates, what happened?  I hadn’t looked in a while (no need) and now the pound is worth 1.466 dollars.  Where did the pound value go?  

We didn’t have any family nearby when we lived on the Isle of Man.  We did make some very good friends over the years, but most of them were in similar situations and many would head back to wherever they had come from for the holidays.  So our Christmas and New Year were, traditionally, very quiet.  We would try to find things to do with the kids, but mostly we would just have endless days sitting around the house while everything was shut up.  This was nice for the kids because they got lots of time to play with their new toys.  It wasn’t so great for us as we got bored long before work and school got back to normal.

Things are a bit different here, of course.  Christmas Eve was church and then my mother and sister came over for a while.  Then they were back bright and early the next morning to watch the great present unwrapping.  Then it was out for a big family meal on the 26th (which happens to be my birthday), with cake and presents after.  Yesterday evening there was a birthday party for a friend of mine, with kids and food and cake and fun.  Today we all went to my mother’s, where the cousins and other extended family had gathered for another celebration!

Now the kids are off school for a while and I’m busy making plans for them to get together with this cousin and that friend and whatever.   It is wonderful in an exhausting way…or maybe exhausting in a wonderful way?

It is just so much more fun going shopping here.  In the UK, stores seemed to feel like they were doing you a favour if they offered 10% off Christmas decorations in the week after Christmas.  They had “end of season” sales where you might get 50% off sweaters and winter trousers in May or bathing suits in Janaury, but otherwise sales were few and far between.

Yesterday I went to Kohls.  They are having yet another “Biggest Sale of the Year” sort of event.  Most things in the store were 50% off.  Some were even more.  Even Christmas things like plates and cups and terrific coffee mugs for my hot chocolate.  Even things that aren’t normally marked down had some money off, like perfume at 10% off. 

And then they had sent me a coupon good for 15% off…or 20% off if I spent $100!  (Which I did, easily!) 

And THEN they gave me $20 in “Kohl’s Cash” which I can spend on ANYTHING starting tomorrow.  Okay, it expires in a week, but basically it is $20 in free money to buy whatever I want.  I might just indulge myself with some candles or something like that…something I don’t NEED but want.  Of course that is just what they are hoping I will do…buy stuff there that I wouldn’t normally buy.

Maybe I will just buy the kids some snow pants.  They both need them and I haven’t gotten around to it yet!