In The Pigeon Hole
The last month has proved to be one of the most bountiful - parcel wise. Six in just the last five weeks. How cool is that! I really am not worthy.
Admittedly most of the packages have been birthday related, which even doubles the reason for me to be shamed. I would have to be the laziest gift giver I know. Just ask my sister who not only didn't receive a present this year for her birthday, but did not even receive a phone call. I completely forgot about the whole event. Five days after she rang me in a huff.
There is something brilliant about receiving packages in the mail. Especially when they are from overseas. I am thrilled seeing them in my pigeon hole, looking at the bold PAPUA NEW GUINEA on the front, the customs form stuck on the back (which I try to avoid reading, lest it spoil the surprise) and the different stamps (although this area now is increasingly and sadly being invaded by those awful printed receipt stamps that the post office till spit out. Bring back real stamps I say!).
All the packages have all been great to receive, but I have to say that the last two have been special. The first was a box full of muzak. Eight CDs of stuff I have been denied here - the pirate entertainment shop in town occasionally gets some good stuff, but usually it is the same old bland crap that today's youth listen too; R&B shite and Pop Idol assembly line types. What's wrong with these kids? Gee I am getting old when I start saying that.
Anyway back to the package, even though the music was copied - sshhh don't tell the record labels - all the discs came with colour photocopies of the inserts. Very impressive. When I queried my techie unsavvy sender as to why she just didn't rip them to MP3 and stick them on a single disc, this I was informed is of course too hard - I used to do this sort of thing for her. So instead I get a heavy box of tunes with a hefty postage price. I told you I am lucky.
The other package arrived today. All the way from the UK, and only in a little over a week. The hefty music box took about three, and that was just from Australia - what's going on there? Although perhaps it was delayed while PNG customs could copy the contents (I wouldn't be surprised, though at least it arrived).
Ah, back to the second package. It was from my creatively-minded politically-active English mate and delightfully contained a book I have been wanting to read, The Life of Pi, and a home made designed T-Shirt. The design is of a tree and contains a Ghandi quote which I have not heard before but when I read it, it immediately resonated like a giant tuning fork in my head; "Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not for every man's greed" (not to mention any names or the fact that maybe man may outgrow the "provides enough" bit, he says while thinking about all the pikininis running around here).
I wore the T-shirt home, feeling good.
