The post office worker handed this to me, and I boggled.
"Is that sealed with tar?"
"...No, wax I think. Proper sealing wax."
As a birthday present to myself I did end up ordering a selection of books from Asian Educational Services, namely Sven Hedin's account of attempting to explore Tibet, plus a couple of others that looked too tasty to pass up. Given I selected seamail I wasn't expecting to see these for another few weeks.
The packaging was almost as much a gift as the books.
It's wrapped in cotton, sewn at one end and sealed with something that could very well have been tar at one end.
I've never received anything like it. Of course it's from another land, it's from India, but, it's from another land. Exactly like getting mail from Wonderland.
And, as is law in the multiverse, was still a right bitch to open.
Okay, I'm buying all my books from India now.
ReplyDeleteThe only way that could possibly be better is if you'd forgotten about ordering them altogether.
ReplyDeleteI love the stuffed dragon!
ReplyDeleteHe's pretty adorable, inni? Not a dragon, but a snow lion. Shall be posting about him later.
ReplyDeleteI hope the snow lion discovers a voice.
ReplyDeleteAnd that package is everything a package of books ought to be.
(I'm not reading your blogposts out of order - it just looks like I am)