Couriers

After several days of very frustrating phone calls I got a lovely call this morning. At least one person in DHL now understands the process of temporary exports, and on my behalf has been pointing out to others that they should too. I will be refunded the customs charges on In Full Bloom and I have the email addresses of people to contact next time I need to do it. Just as well as it won't be long. Not a bad start for a day that looked far too busy to be fun.

I got the Nude Triptych packed up and ready to go to Trentham. The Makower project packed up and ready to go, my passport application ready to send except for the photos and left the house with 3 hours to post all of these before I needed to be at the dentist. Sounds pretty doable doesn't it. So why are the nudes still standing by my desk?

I have asked the post office before about this package and they say it is too big for them, so off to Parcel Force I go. I know there is no problem there as the package is a roll 1.8m long and 0.5m in girth less than their maximum of 3m. No problems, and they do 48hr shipping with is perfect. See I had this all planned. So I get there and try to hand it over. The chap on the desk points at the wall next to me, where there is a new poster. Any package longer than this will not be accepted. Well guess what, mine is longer. I would guess the line is about 1.5m (I suggest you check if this is important to you). However to his credit he says he can't see why the shouldn't take it and goes off to ask a manager. The manager says no. They just can't handle something that big. Bear in mind I am carrying it around, I am moving it in a car. How hard can it be with a burly lad and a large van. Besides why state one set of regulations online then surprise you with extra restrictions when you arrive.

So I need another idea. Fortunately I know people who ship daft size packages and I am recommended to try City Link. I called another friend for directions and off I go, fortunately they are pretty close to Parcel Force, unfortunately I get lost. I do however find interlink, I know they are OK so I try there. You can't actually pay on site you have to phone their booking line, but still not a big deal. Except they won't accept the package. The quilt is designed to hang on the wall, so it is art and they don't ship art. OK, back to hunting City Link. City Link think they might ship the package (hooray) but not without an account. An account takes 4 days to set up and then they will look it up for me. I need the quilt to arrive on Monday. I give up, my only option is to use DHL, but at least I can book a collection for tomorrow from home. Moral of this story, art quilts are really hard to ship if you need the carrier to insure them. If you don't you can just call them fabric and they will take them. Oh yes, Parcel Force don't accept art either.

By this time I was running very late, so the slightly washed out passport photos had better be good enough, because I didn't have time to take another set and I really want to get my forms in before they change the regulations again.

The dentist was pretty good though and gave me time to write a new pattern, I will be trying to get the sample made up this week, so watch this space.