Vahine no to vi by Gaugin


I finally got my ukelele today after a lot of hassle. I've always tried to support small shops, small websites, small vendors as much as I can. However this time, I've learned my lesson. The website I used claimed that deliveries were made by a courier which was great as I wanted to avoid the national postal services at all costs. Pretty quickly I got a message saying the ukelele had been sent, along with my tracking number. It turned out that the tracking number was from the national post, not a courier. Five days later the number was still not recognized. To make things worse, the type of service used was 'economy delivery, no signature required'!! After an un-replied first e-mail and a few unsuccessful attempts to call this company (they were hanging up on me basically), I decided to add a little bit more pressure. I hate doing this but I had no choice considering how much money I had spent. I told the seller that if I didn't get a reply quickly, I'd get in touch with a watchdog consumer association that has been getting a growing reputation in terms of efficiency.

And guess what... Two hours later, I got a confirmation that the tracking number would be available shortly. In brief, until I started to use weapons of mass threatening, the ukelele was never sent! This morning, the postal service guy came in and knocked at my door. I didn't even have the time to put my shoes on, he was gone in thin air after leaving my parcel at the doorsteps...unattented and no way for me to be able to check the content. Damn... I'm glad I was home today and glad the ukelele was in perfect condition despite the rather -can't be arsed- wrapping. There was not even a receipt inside the box. So to say for the boring part, there will be reviews about this website.

For the happy part, it's been great to mess around with this little hawaiian guitar all day. My fingers hurt like hell despite the strings being in soft nylon. It's very small (60 cm long) and it feels much more natural than holding one of those big guitars. Especially for a girl with some assets on the front. The tricky part is to be able to remember the tabs, the strumming pattern (which gives the rhythm of the song) and the lyrics, all at the same time. I try to learn how to place my fingers without looking (that's what I did when I learned the piano and typing) and so far so good! My intermediate musical level is very handy even if I'm still confused about the English keynotes (Do=C, Re=D, Mi=E a.s.o.). I may just ditch the French/Latin system and carry on learning with the ABCDEFG notation.



The sound of the ukulele is quite loud and clear while soft and cheery at the same time. I thought I may be disappointed but this is definitely my new drug. Perfect to keep my hands busy, my mind busy and stay focused for a long period of time (this is something that in general I've found more and more difficult to do). The first two songs I've planned to learn are 'White sandy beach' (a classic for beginners apparently though I find the Bflat minor key excruciatingly hard to play) and 'Confide in me'. Thank god, that was worth the hassle...