Snail Mail

I'd forgotten why it gets called Snail Mail. I ordered a 512MB mini-SD card on Monday, so I could re-load the A5000 and get the econet up and running again. I'm still waiting for them to get here. 5-12 business days, the eBay listing says.. I guess that means I could still be waiting this time next week.

It's the fault of instantaneous worldwide communications, of course. It's equally as easy to view the website of a shop next door as one at the other side of the world. And where eBay is concerned, the stuff could be coming from literally anywhere. The problem comes when you actually order stuff - the shop next door will probably walk round with it, but for the most part, UK sellers will post it and you'll get things next day or at least within a couple of days. The silly Hong Kong eBay seller will take much longer.

Back in the days of ordering things by post, when it took as long for someone to get your order as it did for the delivery to get to you, we expected things to take their time. Now, when the order is placed instantly, we expect things to arrive quicker. And they don't.

I guess I'm just being impatient... But I've several things I need to get sorted out in time for Acorn World at Retro Reunited, and I need to rebuild the fileserver before I can do them ..

In the meantime, I'm just hoping the postal disputes in London don't get worse and spread up here.