Journey of a Hairgrip

Well with the indication this evening that anyone returning to the UK is going to face 14 days' quarantine (better to introduce this restriction late than not at all, some might be saying), I think we can safely assume that this summer's travel plans are now well and truly scuppered. 

Sadly it's reached the stage where the common old hairgrip travels more than I now do and  I state this fact with experience and knowledge.

Earlier last week I was struggling to decide how best to deal with my daredevil hair that seems determined to escape from behind my ears, every time I so much as turn my head. I came up with an ingenious solution in the form of hairgrips and spent the next couple of hours searching our home, convinced that we must have one or two lying around somewhere. I confess that I can't recall using them myself since I had long hair back in my teens but was certain that I'd seen the youngest with some during a phase of piling her locks up high. If she ever had any, then they either now reside with her in London or they've long since fallen through gaps in floorboards.

Thwarted in my quest, I decided that the only answer was online shopping and was amazed to discover that you can get them in white these days. Well grey might have been a slightly better match but, as I'd expected to be stuck with brown, decided to go for them thinking also that I'll inevitably be growing into them colourwise anyway.

Now when I do place an Amazon order, I am always careful to ensure that it is being honoured by a British company and was delighted to see that these were being despatched by a firm in Southampton and would be with me in two days. I even received confirmation of their remittance that evening.

Imagine my surprise, however, when next morning in tracking the parcel, it was to establish that they had been received at a facility in Lonate Pozzolo in Varese, Lombardy. It's funny how I'd assumed that if Northern Italy is closed to tourists, then equally hairgrips may not be permitted entry either. 

Investigation revealed that Lonate Pozzolo is where Cargoitalia has its head office and sure enough, later that day they were clearly flown to the UK. Well I don't think there is any other way they could get from Lombardy to be despatched further on their way at Castle Donnington all within the space of 1  hour and 35 minutes.

The fact that they then took 4 and a half hours to travel a distance of 16 miles suggests they may have gone a scenic route, perhaps, I imagine, through the rolling green hills of the Peak District before passing a comfortable night in Leicestershire. I say comfortable, because they had rather an early start to make it to Leeds for 5am. However, a 4 hour sojourn there (time to take in an art gallery or two perhaps) provided scope for recovery before they were back on the road to be popped through my letterbox a couple of hours later.

Obviously I was intrigued by my globetrotting grips and whilst the card to which they were affixed did say LaModa, turning them over they had indeed been sold to me by a PLC with a Southampton address. Proof of further travel credentials, however, came with their place of manufacture; you've guessed it: the People's Republic of China. Little wonder that a virus has travelled so far and so quickly when (save for their final leg to my door) small hair accessories appear to have replicated the journey.