A good few years ago, I bought six harmonicas from the US, a model I couldn't get here. I had to pay the import duty and the VAT as well as the shipping, but the price was so much lower in the US that I ended up paying what I would have paid for them here had they been available.

But that wasn't the most remarkable thing. I rang the shop in the US to order them at three in the afternoon UK time, so around 9 am US time. They arrived the next day at midday UK time, just 21 hours after my telephone order. I imagined the guy in the shop putting the phone down, grabbing the harps, dashing to the airport and loading them personally on to the flight, then organising a courier to pick them up at the other end who then high-tailed it straight down to Cornwall!