Tuesday January 31, 3:23 p.m.
Well, made the drive to Brampton on the west end of the city to meet that lady at Nippon Express to clear my packages with Customs Canada. It wasn't too bad in terms of traffic since we went there at noon. The 401 was clear sailing. Nippon Express was located in an industrial park just off of Hurontario.
Got there 15 minutes ahead of schedule which means that we were on schedule. My sales rep came out and made a couple of copies of my B-15 form that I'd gotten from Pearson Customs when I got home 6 weeks ago, and my passport. She predicted that things would go as smooth as silk, thanks to the B-15. Actually, the longest part of the whole thing was the drive from NE to the Customs centre nearby the airport and back which was a 30-minute round trip. The actual talk with the uniformed agent was only 1 minute. A bit of a waste in time and gasoline but as long as there were no hassles, I was grateful. The sales rep, Ms. Anderson, was a friendly young lady so the drive between NE and Customs went more quickly. Despite the name, Ms. Anderson is a Japanese woman who got married in her home country and then emigrated with her husband several years ago. We traded some of our war stories. She told me of some of the problems that she's encountered when transplanted Japanese businesspeople with very little English ability come to her office without the B-15. So, the moral of the story is...you're coming here to stay for a while, at least? Welcome to Canada.....BRING THE B-15 FORM!
On the way back, we discussed about the delivery for tomorrow. She had quite the hangup about whether or not the truck would be allowed to drop the stuff off in the visitors' parking. But I reassured her that I would talk to the super as soon as I got home. I didn't think we would have a problem. And sure enough, once I got on the phone with him, he was actually a bit surprised that I would even call him about it. I've sent Ms. Anderson the good news.
And so, 940 CDs will be arriving on my doorstep to adorn my room...and probably to aggravate my parents.
