I should have written and posted a blog hours ago. My routine calls for most of my work happening morning-ish, and it's now 4:30 in the afternoon. Some days, however, are not routine, and this was one of those ... silly, out of kilter and running away with morning hours in a way oh-so-very possible and far too common here on this island.

Gay called with the fab news that someone had phone her saying my birthday present from her and Mark (they'd gone in together, meaning she did the choosing, the shopping and the arranging to get it here ... he contributed some cash and a bit of enthusiasm ... ) had arrived and was waiting at the airport. Did I want to go along with her to pick it up? You bet.

At about 9 am, we left for a 'quick trip'. We should have known better.

What follows is a primer on "how to collect personal items that have been air freighted into Seychelles" ...

Step one: Drive to airport cargo terminal. (In our case, this took 25 minutes)

Step two: Find a place to park. (10 minutes)

Step three: Proceed to Trades Tax office to establish location of item (5 minutes), then you'll be ...

Step four: ... sent to the Air Seychelles office where someone has paperwork and a bill for shipping costs ... but no method for taking payment. (10 minutes), so go ...

I'll not even go into the problem of having a bill in, say, South African Rand (as Gay's was), that can't be paid in Seychelles Rupees because it's not a hard currency ... )

Step five: ... to the car with an Air Seychelles cargo employee to drive to the passenger terminal where a credit card can be processed for shipping charges. (20 minutes)

Step six: Back to Air Seychelles office where you're given paperwork to be taken to (10 minutes) ...

Step Seven: ... the Trades Tax office where someone looks something up on a computer (15 minutes), then sends you to ...

Step eight: ...the Air Seychelles office where the Tax papers are added to the stack of shipping papers. (15 minutes)

Step nine: The bonded warehouse where goods are kept until claimed, where you hand papers to someone who eventually presents you with a 100 pound wooden crate that someone else eventually breaks open with a crowbar, then examines every double-bubble-wrapped, shredded-paper encased item, signs a paper (25 minutes), then sends you to ...

Step ten: ... the Trades Tax office where duty owed on the package is assessed (10 minutes), then sends you to ...

Step eleven: ... the cashier, where the duty is paid (in Rupees) and a paper is given to be presented to (10 minutes) ...

Step twelve: ... the Air Seychelles office where a local handling charge is collected (in Rupees). (10 minutes)

Step thirteen: ... at the bonded warehouse the package is officially yours (10 minutes), as soon as you ...

Step fourteen: ...present the signed documents to someone who finally shows up at the customer service desk (10 minutes), who then arrange for someone to ...

Step fifteen: help you load the package into the car.

And that's it! (All times are approximate, and probably a bit less than actual).

Three hours and fifteen minutes after leaving home, we were heading back.

(Keep in mind, should you ever actually be doing this yourself, that although the Trades Tax office does not close for lunch, the cashier does, so if your time runs such that you're needing to pay between 11:30 and 1pm, you'll be out of luck.)

Almost everything in Seychelles is imported, and this process is repeated hundreds of times a day for everything from birthday gifts to lamb chops.

Sheesh.

I love my new and lovely animal art door stops. Good thing, huh?