Tale of two slippers (part two)

After the arm aching efforts in the garden I was pleased to have some comfort on my feet this weekend. On Saturday my lovely slippers finally arrived from their long journey from the USA.

Regular bloggers will recall how the Tale of Two Slippers started. New readers can catch up here.

It's fair to say that online shopping in the US and shipping to NZ was a bit of an experiment to see if the system worked. I'm pleased to say it does but takes rather longer than you might imagine and doesn't necessarily save you hoards of money.

Fortuantly the slippers themselves were a bargain and it was free shipping in the US. When you add the shipping costs they came out about the same cost if I'd had someone buy them for me in the UK and post them out. At least this way it saved my family and friends from slipper shopping.

Now I have my new Acorns I'm seriously thinking of starting NZ import. I can't believe there aren't kiwis out there who'd like a lovely pair of stylish feet warmers for these winter days and nights.

Fortnum and Mason think that they are really cool. Well actually nice and soft and warm. Idea for them to rest their heads on under the DE desk and snooze a litte. Since Fortnum dribbled on one when sleeping I'm keeping the bassets off my cosy slippers in future!



Would I do it again? Where slippers are concerned, oh yes indeedee! A girl must have her creature comforts! And, I'm sure for those other specialist items you either can't get or are so expensive here in New Zealand.

Tale of two slippers

As the floors get colder this Domestic Executive needs her slippers to keep her tootsies warm and toastie. My preferred slipper is an Acorn Moc, just like the one in the picture. Now Acorn slippers are not just any slipper but famous because they've been worn by astronauts in space and also Tenzing Norgay has worn them on Everest. Acorn has a mission to creat Comfort on Earth. It's true these slippers are the most comfortable I've ever worn.

I am wearing my second pair bought just before I left the UK. As you can imagine that after all this time they are starting to look to retirement to the home for worn out comfy slippers. Simple I thought just go and buy a new pair. Yeah, right!

My normal supplier of Acorn slippers is a small shop in Oxford covered market. Now clearly a trip back for slippers is not feasible (although an attractive prospect if I could pick up some gob burner and oxford blue cheese and perhaps a steak and blue cheese pasty too). In this age of global shopping I though bound to be able to get them on-line. Yeah, right!

Seems that UK on-line retailers don't stock my beloved Acorns so I turned to suppliers in the US who unsurprisingly seem to shut their borders to sending things overseas to New Zealand. After getting thoroughly depressed at the thought of never replacing my Acorns I came upon a new idea www.buyusa.co.nz. This is a mail forwarding company that allows you to set up a mail box in the US - Idaho in fact. They will then receive any goods you've purchased and forward them to you in New Zealand. For a fee of course.

It all sounds slightly dodgy but it's a bone fide system. There are other companies that use a similar mail forwarding approach - www.accessusa.com is another. So I've registered, got my mail box and ordered my slippers. I know that they've been shipped from the supplier just now waiting for their delivery and onward forwarding.

If this actually works I'll be the proud owner of a new pair of slippers in time for full blown winter. It also opens up all sorts of retail opportunities on-line previously prevented. As long as we can get around the second barrier of US e-retailing in that lots of companies won't accept a non US addressed credit card. Can you believe it, they won't take my money! Still, you can use paypal or just shop with sensible retailers.

I'll keep you posted about the tale of my two slippers. I know you're dying to know the end of this story!