If you're curious as to how much it costs, I now know.
As we're well aware, my life is weird. I do things I never thought I would ever do, I have strange and/or quirky things happen to me, and, every so often, I, through whatever process, find myself with a piece of information I had never before pondered in my life.
Like how much it costs to send a 20-pound box to Belgium.
Now, in their life, the average American would never need to know how much it costs to send a letter to Belgium, much less a 20-pound box. But, as we both know, I'm not average, and that's how I came across this interesting little factoid. I think I've mentioned my Belgian friend Carl before; he's a lawyer, speaks five languages, and will probably one day be President of the European Union. Anyway, I know Carl because he's deeply into the history of a certain Army unit that fought during the Battle of the Bulge near where he grew up, and one of the people Loraine's researching died during that fighting.
You can guess the rest.
Anyway, every so often Carl will come across a piece of memorabilia or a research item he needs, and for whatever reason he can't get it shipped to him in Belgium. So he'll buy it and have it shipped to me; then, I send it his way. I've done this with army helmets, medals, books, photographs, and, uhm, Garth Brooks CDs (that's a story in itself). Anyway, Carl came across a treasure trove in the form of letters and photo albums from someone who served in the unit he's researching, so he bought it.
And the two boxes arrived at my doorstep yesterday.
I stuck them in a single box, packed it up, schlepped over to the Post Office, and sent them on their way. Carl reimbursed me, and will happily dig through the boxes when they get to Belgium next week. I hope they contain everything he wishes, and that he's able to further his research into what has become his life's passion.
Because that's anything any history nerd wants.
And, if the topic comes up in conversation (and I sure it will), it's not cheap to send a 20-pound box to Belgium. Like I said, I've learned a lot of strange/weird/useless/useful facts over the years, and this is just the most recent.
By the way, if you curious about the total? It's $176.65.
No comments:
Post a Comment