Goodies From America.

We got a package today! It was a long road to get it though. My aunt Kim and my Nanny (my grandmother) put this package together for us and mailed it on November 19th. We did our usual, anticipating when it might arrive, wanting to be home for delivery, as it was over 25 pounds, and we were trying to make it easy for ourselves. Well, it didn't come. And it didn't come. Only on the last package that took so long did we learn that you can track these things through their customs forms. But Kim had gone on vacation right after it was sent, so I wasn't able to contact her to get the tracking number. I waited (impatiently, I'll admit). Well, Kim got back into town the other day and had a message from me waiting for her. Ironically, she didn't mail it, Nanny did, so I could've called her for the number. But anyway, lesson learned. I plugged in the tracking number this morning and.... they showed attempted delivery twice on November 27th. A day that we were home most of, at least for one of the attempts, and probably for both. We made a quick last minute run to the grocery store for Thanksgiving supplies, but we were not gone long.

So we started making calls at 7:45am this morning. We called Royal Mail, but when we finally got through, she said I had to call Parcel Force, because they do international packages. So I called them. And they confirmed attempted delivery on the 27th, and said it had been left at a local post office. This is not common for packages to get left at a post office. There is a sorting office a few miles away where packages usually get taken if you are not home. You get a little card saying they missed you and how many hours/days you need to wait before going to pick it up. Well we never got a card. The post office isn't exactly in our neighborhood, but we were making the hike to the kid's school for Review Day today, and coming back we were able to detour there. The line was pretty long (as they usually are) but moving pretty fast (compared to usual). When I say post office here, I mean a small corner shop/general store. The post office counter handles postage/mail ans well as money. You can pay your bills, send wire transfers, get cash, etc. And you never know what the person in front of you is going to ask for. Thankfully the regular shop purchases go to the front counter so there is not just one line for everything.

Anyway, I digress. We got to the counter and I said I tracked a package and it was suppose to be there, but we did not get a card saying delivery had been attempted. He looked a little... baffled? by this lack of protocol. He asked when it was suppose to have been left there, and I told him. I also told him it was about 25 pounds, if that helped to locate the box (it had to be a decent size at that weight) since they don't keep a lot of packages there. He asked someone something and I heard him say, I wonder if that's the one out there? I didn't have time to wonder what that meant because he comes to the window and says, "Can you check that package there (behind us on the floor of the general store) to see if it's for you?" I looked around and was surprised to see it sitting right there in the middle of the room, basically. I checked, yes it was ours. He came out and got a sticker and my passport for ID and scanned some stuff. He suggested I complain to the company, as it had been there so long and no one had contacted us. We've been happy with our deliveries up until this point, but I think someone does need to address the issue that they never knocked on our door, and if by some tiny, teeny weenie chance they did, they did not leave us a ticket telling us to collect it.

I had brought backpacks with me, so we opened the package, transfered all the goodies, and headed home. I spent the afternoon sorting through things. A lot of it is American foods, and I documented everything so it will be easier to do my weekly meal plans. All the sweets I divied up and wrapped since it's so close to Christmas. Nid and I may have sampled a few of the sweets before repackaging them. But shhh, don't tell the children, as they don't know what's in the packages :)

 

Thank you again, Kim and Nanny!