Monday June 4, 2007
The fun event of the day was the arrival of a package from China, containing a state-of-the-art valve Darkvoice [tube] headphone amplifier Graham had ordered a week ago. We’d been tracking it on the TNT site step by step, day by day, and getting quite excited by it. This morning, just about mid-day, I checked into the website again, to find that the package had left Bristol at 05:26 ‘for delivery’.
“When do you think it may come?” Graham asked.
“Oh, in about 15 seconds.”
“Don’t be daft.”
At which point the doorbell rang, announcing the arrival of the TNT guy.
“How the hell did you do that?” Graham said.
“Oh. Nothing special. I just looked out of the window.”
The amplifier is incredibly good and it’s exceeding cool to be able to order a product direct from a tiny company in China and have it arrive here in Britain in less than a week. That’s the kind of world in which I like to live.
The puzzling thing, though, is the shipping charge, made in US dollars. It was about a third less than it would have been had we ordered a package of the same weight and dimensions from the USA. In fact, it cost about the same as it would have done from anywhere in Europe. I don’t think the USA is doing itself any favours by this hidden trade tariff.
Hey ho.
Other than that, a lovely day spent mostly in house and garden. Graham cut the grass. Dolly approved, but did her best to avoid showing it.
Dolly approved
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