By rights it would have turned up by Wednesday at the latest. I'd already waited a weekend. I'd become so hyped up about this jacket that I'd actually had a dream about it.
This dream turned out to be a premonition. In it I was forced to drive to the depot to pick up my Visvim Gore Windstopper Alta 2008.
Then I got the message that all importers of nice bits dread. It was in customs. This signifies more than a sizeable charge. When customs impound your parcel, you are at their mercy. They can do what they want with it, kick about a bit, stand on it, open it , wear it. When they've finished their spiteful carrying on they might then release it and send it by means of a man on a bicycle the length of the country to your local Parcel Force depot, which will be a 40 mile return journey from your home. The man there responsible for booking in your parcel will then be off sick.
Around six months later you will receive a letter telling you that a parcel has been waiting in the corner of the North Essex depot since December, and you can have it upon the payment of a £54,000 duty fee which bears absolutely no relation to the value of your item.
Alright, I'm exagerating, but thanks to Customs, a delivery that would have taken three days from door to door took ten. And no, the duty charged bared no relation whatsoever to the amount paid for the jacket or the 15% VAT rate. And they say bribery is prevalent in the former Eastern Bloc.
On top of all that, the jacket turned up on a Saturday, which meant that if I hadn't gone to collect it, I would have spent another two days waiting.
Now there are two trains of thought here. The idea of duty is to line the pockets of our bank-bailing out Government, and I therefore despise it. One the other hand, had I been supporting UK retailers and brands, I would never have had such trouble.
None of which matters now, because I have the jacket, and it is the last one I will ever buy. (!)
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