Since I moved back to Australia, it has been quite difficult to get decent gut strings for my period violins/violas/dámore. There are only a few places that stock these types of specialist strings, and only one that has any sort of decent depth of stock... and those tend to be more expensive than they should be. So, in the end, I have stuck with the same suppliers that I used when I lived in Europe and just make larger orders to make the extra shipping costs worthwhile. At first, I had thought that the strings would just take too long to travel to the other side of the planet... but we do live in a modern age, and they take about a week or two at most.

Anyway, recently, I had to buy a large batch of strings to replace my stock... and to be prepared for a sudden loss of strings whilst I'm preparing for a performance of scordatura sonatas by Biber for Easter. A post for a different time, but those sonatas require the strings to be tuned to quite heavy tensions.

... So, after everything was totaled up, it was a bit over 1000 AUD... AFTER a 15 percent discount! Quite a lot of monetary worth in a tiny little package!

And I was glad that it was send via FedEx registered post. Except, when I got a notification when it had arrived and been delivered... but when I went down to the PO BOX... nothing. No little slip telling me to pick up something at the desk... and nothing when I asked about it.

SHIT SHIT SHIT!

Anyway, the post worker told me that FedEx often bouncing the packages back through the regular Australian post when they see that they have a post office box instead of a street address. But for some reason, they don't have a tracking code for that... and so they mark it delivered instead!

So, he recommended that I just wait it out for a week or so...

... EEEP! Remember how much that little package cost!

But, I waited... I had nothing else that I could do... and I was dreading the contact if I had to report it missing.

... but thankfully, it just arrived, and I can get on with replacing some old strings that were killing time on some of my instruments, and preparing for the 6-violin spectacular.

Meanwhile, I finally got my eyes checked again after nearly 5 years on the same prescription. I was starting to notice that it was getting really difficult to read small writing... and the notes on the pages were also starting to get a bit less clear. However, the real killer was that the protective coating on my glasses were starting to delaminate... leaving a really smeary mess that was impossible to see out from, and that was getting bigger.

As I went in to check the different glasses with my oldest girl... I saw that there were frames made by Caterpillar! The mining truck company!!!! We had a suitcase from them, and it lasted forever... and is still going strong after nearly two decades aside from some minor zip problems. So, immediately... Caterpillar it was... screw those other fancy name brands! I want mining truck frames!

So, I've had my first concert with them this evening... and they were pretty decent, except I will need to get the nose pads tightened up... as well as the ear hooks. I have a pretty narrow nose, so the glasses sit okay when in normal use... but in the concert, it is a bit sweatier and they slide down and when moving around whilst playing, they were hanging askew on my face! Quite funny... but manageable... only just!

... but nothing that I want to have to deal with in more difficult concert situations!

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ByBit: Leverage and spot trading, next Binance?
OkX: Again, another Binance contender?