Long wait, a very long wait

This book, The Penang Adventure by Raymond Flower, arrived this morning, carelessly flung over my gate by the postman. I didn't even know about its arrival until I went out of the house by chance to do something else. But whatever way it had arrived, I'm mighty glad that it did because it had been so long since I ordered it online from The Book Depository in England.

Frankly, it had been so long that it had begun to slip from my mind. I've known about this book from a friend, Stephen, more than six months ago, had gone to the local bookshops to search for it without success, and finally had to turn to the Internet to get a copy. I saw it on offer from The Book Depository and placed my order on 14 Oct 2010. Unfortunately, I did not realise that it was also out of stock with them. So the long wait began. And the longer the wait, the more that it slipped from my mind.

Until finally, on the eighth of this month, another email came to tell me that they have received their stock and would post out my copy soon. The package was well padded, so the thud when it hit the floor had probably not registered with me this morning. All in, it had been 166 days from order till delivery.

P.S. Maybe I should also say that I saw this title in a local bookshop about a month ago. Most probably, they were waiting for their stock too. But alas, I forgot to compare prices. It cost me USD11.83 (about RM36) inclusive of delivery.