Tracking

I recently bought some DVDs from Amazon.co.uk. I really like the UK amazon because for some unexplained reason they ship faster than the US amazon and charge less, too. This time, I checked the "ordinary shipping" box but for some reason when they sent the DVDs out, they upgraded me to super-fast courier-hand delivered shipping. For the normal cheap amazon.co.uk price! I was pretty excited about this, because it means I get my DVDs in 3 days (apparently) instead of 2 weeks. But the best part about all of this is that they gave me a tracking number! So now I can follow every step of their journey. So far my DVDs started in Glasgow, travelled to Edinburgh (I hope they saw all the old buildings), went to London (hope they managed to fit the British Museum in - it's free!), had to wait around at Heathrow for a bit (but don't we all), and now they're on a plane from London to Australia. I hope they have a nice plane ride, get good seats, good food, and that the movies they see are enjoyable. I'm so glad my DVDs got to see the world a little before they settle down in my house.

Personal space

Yesterday a bizarre thing happened to me at work. I'm not sure if I should be horrified about this or whether I'm over-reacting. I'll tell the tale.

Yesterday it was quite warm here in Melbourne. Resisting the (obvious) temptation to wear hotpants, thongs and a singlet top (as were a lot of women I saw yesterday), I wore a t-shirt and skirt. The tshirt's sleeves were at an angle so about half the tattoo on my arm was visible. I sometimes get comments about the tattoo at work (from both staff and patrons) but mostly, it's ignored.

So I was helping a girl (who I had never seen before in my life) find some videos and I'd knelt down to show her the ones she wanted and she says "oh, that's a nice tattoo" and before I could do anything lifts up my shirt sleeve to get a better look!!! I was horrified! I don't know about her, but I usually don't want to go around touching complete strangers. I realise her move was probably well-intentioned (she just wanted to get a better look), but just because she can see the tattoo doesn't give her the right to invade my personal space.

I have other friends who are much more heavily tattooed than I am who have had random people come up to them in shopping centres and lift their shirts up to see what's underneath. So I know this does happen, but it's never happened to me before and I honestly didn't think it would, as this tattoo is fairly small and a fairly standard design. I honestly thought we'd gotten over the days of tattooed skin=public space but I guess not!