Long awaited arrival

If you ever needed proof that getting mail can make any bad weekend seem just a shabby memory, here it is. I posted this from Norwich, England on the 6th of December 2010 at approximately 4:30pm. I paid £8.60 to post it by surface mail, and was told it would take up to 40 days to arrive in Hobart, Australia.

I posted another parcel, almost identical only a little heavier, at the same time. That arrived home before me, a day or two after Christmas.

Today, on the 21st of March, 2011 at approximately 1:30pm, this parcel arrived. The postman knocked, I ran to the door, and told him how excited I was. He was excited for me.

66 days after the due date, my parcel was delivered. It looks pristine, but I like to imagine it has been a tough time for it, stuck in dark shipping crates with mail of dubious origin and contents. Thrown about on the high seas perhaps, or tossed between postal workers. Flipped this way and that, with only an address label telling it where it was destined, I hope it wasn't too scared.

But now it's here. The contents have been examined, my joy at being reunited with my postcards and other paper souvenirs is palpable, and now my scrapbook of a year away may begin. And I may breathe again. After a poorly ranking weekend, this has made my day, and now I shall step into my week with a spring in my step and joy in my heart.




(In all honesty, our local post office thought 40 days was incredibly optimistic - they're told 60-90 days for parcels like this. Apparently a ship leaves every 3 weeks, and my first parcel either just made it on there, or was accidently airmailed.)