mail

I fell in love at first sight with some people and they became my best friends. One of them is the friend who sent me this book. And there I was on this Tuesday afternoon taking a quiet read and happy moment with an author I also fell in love with. Here is a link to her website http://www.emilygravett.com/, and a big thank you (THANK YOU!) for this wonderful surprise in the post today.

I am pleased to report this international post success story but also felt like sharing a word of warning: it does not always work so smoothly. Two Christmas parcels from SA did not arrive, as well as one from Germany, and I once had to pay the equivalent of the value of the goods declared on the parcel to the customs and their state counterpart. It made me feel sad when my friend's presents did not arrive and so I would like to recommend this:

- avoid sending parcels at Christmas (that is, avoid sending in November - December)

- get a tracking number from the post-office (in some countries this can be done without having to pay as much as registered or express mail)

- lie about the content and its value: nothing organic (from the earth, I mean), and a value lower than 50 US Dollars.

Oh how good I feel when I get mail in my hands.