Thomann (EU's biggest music retailer) have just topped the personalised sales experience by sending me my very own email to say my new Harley Benton electric mandolin is on it's way! I won't say I've been waiting a long time for it, but when I ordered it was listed at 95 Euros+shipping, and at shipping date it cost me 92 Euros+ - GBPEUR went my way for a change.
You can tell this will be a quality item. Just imagine the slightly damp and oaty smell of the cardboard delivery box, the inscrutable (to me) Cantonese figures stencilled on it, the squeak of the foam packing inserts, the light patina of rust on the genuine metal strings after weeks and weeks of sea voyage in a highly sought-after shipping container. And once I unbox it - Oh, the feel of genuine wood from a real tree, with some sort of lacquer on it, probably.
Buy I won't just rip the box open impatiently - no, I'll gently let it warm up in the house for a day before carefully slitting the vinyl tape and opening the box to the gentle breezes for another day, before exposing this treasure to the elements. But I won't play it just yet - no, the cricket season's not that far away, and I can't find my practise bat...
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