I had a few things I needed to send to Europe and several of them were breakable so I stopped on my way to the Post Office and bought a local newspaper for 10p so that I could use it to wrap the items up.
I got to the Post Ofice, purchased a strong box and set about wrapping the items up carefully in the newspaper and packing them into the box. I was pleased with the end result – the contents looked like they would withstand the journey – all packed up neatly and tightly with the newspaper.
I proudly presented it to the man at the counter in order for him to seal the box but there seemed to be a problem. He was pointing to the contents and said it would not be possible to send them as they were. I couldn’t understand what he was saying so he fetched a female colleague who explained to me that I could not use a Nanjing newspaper to pack the items because they were leaving the country. If I wanted to use newpaper it would have to be a national paper like the China Daily.
It was hard to keep my cool but after a lot of ‘Are you crazy – this must be a joke’ and through gritted teeth I set about unwrapping everything and using the recycled bubblewrap which the assistant kindly gave me. An old lady, finding this all very amusing, was hovering over me craning her neck to see what was in the box and watching as I unwrapped each item. I am afraid she felt the sharpness of my tongue as I suggestedd she returned to her business and kept her nose out of mine.
So another challenging day in Nanjing and more senseless rules and regulations to keep us foreigners bewildered and frustrated.