Earlier this week I received a very exciting phone call. The man called me to tell me my boxes from the UK had arrived in Adelaide, been through quarantine and were ready for collection!! It only took 13 weeks too, nearly double the quoted time, their excuse? Recent cold weather in the UK delayed the shipping, and because this is an act of God we don’t have to honour our side of contract and get it to you within the quoted timeframe. Whatever, some things aren’t worth fighting or getting fired up about and this one fell squarely in that category, sure, there were a few items that would have been handy sooner, but I don’t think my snowboard boots or North Face puffer jacket were priorities for a scorching Australian summer.
The thing with having such a long delay between packing and receiving the boxes is that you tend to forget what you’ve included, so when it comes time to open them it’s like a surprise present to yourself – imagine the possibilities dementia may one day bring me, I can have this giddy thrill on a daily basis.
One of the first things I found was these bad boys.
I bought them about 4 years ago and used them maybe half a dozen times, at the time everyone told me I’d never use them, and they were pretty accurate, but I’ve got zero regrets and consider it money well spent as the times I did break them out were on the Friday Night Skate which was an absolute highlight of London.
Okay. Confession time. Another reason I bought the skates was so I could turn back the clock and reclaim my youth, you see back when I was half the age I am now a few friends and I used to get around on our blades all the time and even formed the demonstration team Team Suicidal – I was known as Siju. Our first demo happened to be our last, but for those 20 minutes we were men. Here’s a shot of me I stumbled on during my move to the new house, I reckon I must be around 15 at the time. Needless to say none of these heroic feats were replicated this time round.
Quick shout out to my Team Suicidal comrades Airman and Zuul, if you’re ever in town and feel like throwing it down old school you know where to find me.
But here’s the reason I’m an idiot.
For some reason I thought I wouldn’t have much stuff to bring back to Australia. I don’t know why I thought this as I’d been in London and Edinburgh for the best part of 6 years accumulating all sorts of crap, but I decided I’d just need a few clothes to get me started back home and that would be it. It was almost an after thought to actually send boxes back, I only thought I’d need 1 or 2, but after speaking to the box man on the phone I decided to take 4 just in case. With 2 weeks left in London my bags were not yet packed and the boxes not yet arrived; this is the time most people decide to scour the streets looking for something unique, a special memento to remind them of their magical time in this wondrous city. After spending hours trawling the streets of the West End this is what I came up with.
Three cans of tennis balls because they were on special at Lillywhites.
The next day the boxes arrived and were significantly smaller than what I had imaged, and these 3 massive tins of frickin’ tennis balls took up a hefty amount of what was to become very prime real estate. I was livid, the only thing to console me was the fact I decided at the last minute not to buy that cricket bat and set of pads as well. Seriously, I came this close.
When I unpacked the tennis balls I was reminded why they were so seductive and resumed my feeling of smugness. What a discount!
So my set up is largely complete now, I’ll post some photos of my office some time soon as this is the first room that feels finished, especially now my printer has arrived. I’m in the process of getting some of my photos printed and framed and put up around the place, and my “best of” albums from the last 4 years turned up in the boxes so they’ll make great coffee table reading, you know, as soon as my coffee table becomes more substantial than an upside down packing box with a table cloth on it.
