19/06/2026
One of the joys of importing beautiful things from the UK and Europe is that, every now and then, we’re reminded just how far away Australia really is.
A lovely new supplier in Italy recently wrote to ask how our first shipment had been received (stunning product). It made me smile because the product was viewed with the supplier last September, the order was placed in January, it was made by hand, and finally shipped by sea in May…it will arrive here in late July.
And for us, that’s normal.
Some orders arriving later this year were ordered back in November and won’t be with us until September or even October! That’s what it's like for us, long lead times, sea freight, customs, patience, and then, eventually, the pleasure of opening boxes full of things we’ve been waiting months to see.
I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I’m used to it, but I still love it when our suppliers are surprised by how long it takes us to reach them.
I must ask David to finally fix our anti-matter transporter - it would make purchasing much easier.
Now, can you guess what’s coming?