Our good times are all gone

[flemmings]

When the dust settles, that copy of Saiyuki Reload Blast (864 yen= 9.64 Canuck$) cost me a quarter shy of $50. I doubt even amazon.jp could beat that piece of highway robbery.

'How likely are you to recommed Buyee to a friend?' That's a hard 1, guys, and only because you don't have an option for 0.

Comments

[incandescens]

Ouch. Distinctly ouch.

[flemmings]

It's something to do with the Japanese PO not sending parcels anymore because there aren't enough planes to handle the necessary stuff ie going to China. But somehow the delivery companies can find cargo space on an airline? (3O dollars of that fifty was for delivery. I can only hope that when the country gets back on track that these guys will offer Postal delivery again.)

[incandescens]

I occasionally buy old secondhand kimono on ebay from Japan to dismantle for silk for patchwork (very old cheap ones), and I'd noticed that the postage cost for _those_ had gone up a lot too. Enough to put me off getting any more for the moment. Still, I've got plenty of stuff to be getting on with . . .

(edited to clarify that I'm getting them from Japan, thus postage issues)

[flemmings]

What I noticed was a remarkable slowdown in delivery times. Air was taking as long as sea used to, whether it was here to there or there to here. I must assume your ebay sellers were using some sort of delivery system as well.

I too have plenty of stuff to be getting on with, but that doesn't help when, say, the next 100 Demons comes out and the inner child goes all 'Too much the magic bus' on me: I waan it I waan it I waan it I waan it...

[incandescens]

Oh, absolutely. There are the things that one would quite like to have but can wait for, and the things that one needs right this minute.

And to be fair, it's good to have a few things one cares that much about. (I would be grammatical and say "a few things about which one cares that much", but grammar loses out to colloqualism. "Up with which I will not put," as they say.)

[flemmings]

'When a man is tired of wanting, he is tired of life.'

I was given to understand that eschewing a final preposition was a late pedantic addendum of the grammarians, with no basis in anything except 'you can't do it in Latin' (literally can't) 'so you shouldn't do it in English'. To which Churchill's reply is exactly on point.

[incandescens]

Ah, so the English penchant for borrowing things from other languages extends to rules of grammar. That makes sense. At least, the principle makes sense, even if the action itself doesn't.

[flemmings]

Oh yes. And not just English. Somewhere in the 18th century the idea got round Europe that languages should reflect Latin usages. Which is why 18th century French authors are so easy to follow: they read like 18th century English authors.

[incandescens]

That explains a lot.