A globetrotting source of vitamin B

27 November 2005

About two weeks ago, I sent a pot of Marmite to a Marmite fan in Austria as a surprise. It finally arrived a couple of days ago, having gone via Australia. Even I know that’s not the most direct route. The Aussies opened my beautiful, hand-made box and checked the contents to make sure I wasn’t posting anything I shouldn’t and put in some leaflets about what can and can’t be sent to Oz. Never mind all that, if only they knew how long I had spent wrapping the jar in bubble wrap so that (a) it was protected all round, (b) it would fit in the box, and (c) the label on the jar didn’t shine through and ruin the surprise the moment it came out of the box. I bet they just wrapped it up any old how. Ugh, it doesn’t bear thinking about.