ANOTHER WEEK AND WAITING .....

I'm slowly getting myself clear of jobs that "must get done" to make my way to start sewing for the Fast. I know the idea is not to sew as many things as you can as fast as you can or anything like that but I'd like to get my teeth into something fun for a change. One small problem, the thing that is holding me up a bit is my pattern, it still has not arrived from the US despite being ordered twice.  Seems the gremlins are also in the postal system these days.

I've never had many issues with posting things places with the exception of a few, one to the US and one to France.  I have noticed that so many people will not post to France these days.  I had one of my dolls go to a sweet lady in France who waited months for her small package.  The French customs system is in overdrive it seems and they are apparently trying to eek out as much small change as they can from as many people as they can.   I provided all the paperwork and sent the package via the most expensive post, which is what I normally do for such items, so there was no reason for any delay ... or so I thought.  I've sent things all over the world in fact and never had one go missing but delayed yes, absolutely.  

One lesson I did learn recently was never never never send anything "sea mail".  I had one customer ask me to send an item via the slowest and cheapest method so I sent it per her wish .... sea mail.  I learnt a lot from that experience but it would take me a month of Sundays to explain it completely to you.  It took over 2 months to get to the US via sea mail.  It went from my home town via our postal system to Sydney where it was literally put on a cargo ship as sea mail.  After waiting weeks to hear it had arrived and investigating with the post office, they informed us that just because you choose sea mail does not mean it will go by sea, it all depends upon how much space they have available, where the item is going to etc.  Well this little package went the long road and we even went as far as watching the boat go overseas online just to reassure the buyer that it was on its way.  There is a program that allows you to track airplanes online and then there is also one that allows you to track all sorts of boats.  It is actually very interesting, look here:

http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/

And if you want a truly different cruising experience you can even book a cruise on one of those cargo ships and go with your package:

https://www.freightercruises.com/seaworthy_news_1109.php

I said we learnt a LOT!  But that is only half the story.  The other half involved Paypal, their recommendation to the buyer, their refunding her twice, then refunding me, then deducting twice from my account after the package was deemed sent correctly and per instructions. In the end, months later, the buyer ended up being refunded twice and I also so she was ahead and I was even. We were very happy with that because it was the most ridiculous experience we have ever had using Paypal.

We had many lovely discussions with the buyer about family, experiences, the economy, lots of laughs about "the system" and in the end the little package arrived just before Australia Posts deadline for sea mail shipping and in perfect order, within three months.  We were all ecstatic as you can imagine.

I better get back to my studies and try to get more than mending done this week.