I can't believe how difficult it is to get a damn flash card reader for my new laptop.

My old, perfectly servicable Delkin PCMCIA reader, of course, won't work anymore because the T400 doesn't have a PCMCIA slot. Lenovo kept dual slots for longer than anyone else, but now all you get is an Expresscard 54 slot (which is also compatible with an Expresscard 34 card, so either sort will do).

Delkin make a couple of different Expresscard Compact Flash readers (high speed ones - you have to watch out with CF readers: astonishingly, you can still buy cheap PIO-only CF readers that take several hours to download a 16GB card).

I hit all the AP advertisers looking for a card reader. No dice.

I googled for Delkin products in Australia. No dice: some other Delkin things (memory cards, for example) but no card readers.

Right, thinks I, I'll get one from the States. Went to Delkin's site, they want US$40 for the card. That seems a little steep, but to hell with it, I'll pay it. I guess it's the rec retail. Turns out Delkin won't ship anywhere except the USA or Canada.

Hmmm ... Ah! B&H! They will have them. Good reputation too. Sure enough, they do, and they are cheaper as well, at US $26. I place an order. Freight takes it to just over US $40, which is silly for an item the size of a credit card and not much heavier, but there you go. (They have 4 different freight options, this one is the slowest and cheapest.) No, wait! That is extra, not total! B&H want to charge me US $41 FOR FREIGHT ALONE! - They are actually proposing to sell me a $26 item for nearly $70 US! To hell with that!

Try Adorama. No dice: they don't stock it. (And it's a wonder they sell anything with a website that hard to navigate.)

What about Amazon? Worse! They have an Expresscard 34 version (which is fine, either one will do me), but they won't ship it outside the continental USA. Plus they too have done horrible things to their website and keep trying to sell me two other things I don't want at the same time.

Back to Google, searching for "Delkin" and "Expresscard". After numerous blind alleys, it throws up Naturescapes.net. At last! A decent company to deal with (I've bought from them before an am already a member). They are charging an outrageous US $60, but that's still better than the crazy price B&H are asking. Oh no! That's plus US $40 freight!

This is crazy!

All I want is a bloody card reader. No USB nonsense and dangling cables, this is for a notebook and it should fit into the Expresscard slot that is specifically designed for exactly that task and which every reputable notebook made for some years now has has as standard equipment.

It this too much to ask?