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Just checking in on all of you - how are you all feeling today?
Kind of you to ask - feeling self-satisfied, having gone into town and braved the pre-Christmas Purgatory Post Office parcel queue this morning - PMSS match despatched - and finding that sending anything from UK to USA now requires a customs form demanding detailed information as to every single item in the package, their exact weights and values and countries of origin... it made for a rather long conversation with the lass behind the counter:
"Well, the tin the tins are made from probably came from Bolivia... the tobacco, from the USA, Malawi, Tanzania, India... the plastic nodules the pouches are spun from probably originated in China, the steel for the wire of the pipe-cleaners, possibly South Korea, or maybe Sweden, the fluff on them from cotton that might have grown in Egypt, the USA, India or Pakistan...". (Joking - I lied and just said: "UK").
Then the exact Sterling/USD exchage rate of the moment had to be checked and because the latter is down a few cents the package went over the duty-free threshold (which I thought I had cunningly worked out).
By the time we'd done, the line behind me was looking murderous and threatening to extend out of the door and into the street.
Two cheers for customs bureaucracy and the joy it brings at Christmas. But even so, it was worth it to be a part of PMSS. Som Besths to you all, when it comes
