Going Postal - UK version

My friend over in the UK sent me a birthday present about a month ago, and I had been watching the mailbox for it for the past couple of weeks or so. It really doesn't take that long usually to get across the pond. I was starting to think that it was probably just lost. Sad, because I normally don't do gift exchanges - only with a couple of people (and my husband is not one of them), so I was sad that one of my 2 birthday "pressies" was gone missing. Turns out, it went to Australia first! It was addressed perfectly, and I guess I can see how a glance at the first 3 letters of "Austin" could have led to a mistake, but she said that a package she sent to her granddaughter in St. Louis ended up going though Jamaica first, and another item sent to the USA is still very much delayed.

There have been quite a few troubles in the UK with the postal workers' Union, and I'm wondering if unrest and resentments among their postal workers are leading to (perhaps rogue) incidents of this type... a tactical monkey wrench in the works. It's not inconceivable at all. Anyway, this little bear was one of the several items in the package checked for quarantine violations. Isn't he cute? He's from the London Hard Rock Cafe. He's got tattoos, an earring and a blue mohawk. Keeping him company now in the basket are the pig Babe (who also has kind of a mohawk) and Mr Bigglesworth from Austin Powers. Also in the package were added these pamphlets from the Australian government explaining what sort of stuff can be sent to Australia.