Hello! It's Great to be Here!!

Hello, my name is Gareth and I'm so happy to join this lovely community.

A little about myself:

I started collecting when I was around 8 years old, following in my Dad's and uncle's footsteps.  Growing up in Wales, my first interest was in the UK and the Commonwealth. As I grew older, I did what most of us do, I think, and drifted away from the hobby for many years. I had the great pleasure of living in a number of European countries in my 20's and 30's, and, though, as I said, I wasn't "into" stamps at the time, I managed somehow to find some lovely items on my travels. (I'm sure you could do a psychological study on how the "hidden" brain knows what we really want, even if we don't outwardly show interest!)

Whilst living and teaching in a small town in Hungary, I met and fell in love with an American, and a few years later found myself over here in Chicago, where it seems I've permanently settled. It was over 25 years ago, after all

I slowly started getting interested in stamps again, becoming more of a generalist, finding something of value in everything I come across. However, I suppose I'm most interested in those countries I lived in - Germany, Hungary, Greece - than most, although I'm partial to the northern European countries, too.

In more recent times, as my 50's start disappearing rapidly behind me, I find I take more and more interest In my collections. I have become a fairly active buyer (and seller) on eBay, and love the thrill of that freshly arrived packet of philatelic items.

It's amazing to me how easy it is now to find information and advice on any stamp-related matter (I tried using "topic" and "issue" first as word choices here, but they might have caused confusion!) It's the main reason I joined this Forum, and I hope I can add some small bit of knowledge or insight into some of the discussions here.

If you ever want to chat, please feel to send me a pm, I'd love to hear from you 

Gareth