Ordered a new kitchen for one of the gites recently. Well, a few units anyway, it's not very big, although it's costing a small fortune for what we've got. Anyway, placed the order at the end of January and was told three weeks for delivery. Three weeks came and went and heard nothing. Went into the shop to discover that they had lost the order. Eventually they found it, then they couldn't find the items, so I had to go out back into their warehouse to show them which were our items. Then they said couldn't deliver that week, would have to be the following week. Yesterday they turned up, five weeks after placing order. Tried to put it all together today. It must be the worst flat-pack ever, the instructions are terrible, the screws are the wrong length, there's no dowels, no holes screwed where they should be, and so on. Worst of all however, is the lack of a side panel on the tall cupboard, which means we can't put the cupboard together and can't therefore put the kitchen together.

Went back to the store this afternoon, expecting the usual french shoulder shrug of dismissal, but the guy was actually quite helpful and is ordering the part 'urgently'. Well, I did tell him that the kitchen was for our only gite and we had people arriving in two weeks and so it was a desperate situation. A little white lie, but we can't afford to wait any longer, we need the kitchen done so that I can update the photos and advertising and also, the weather should be getting warmer soon (fingers crossed) at which point we need to stop working inside and start sorting out the mess that is the garden. He says he'll have it sorted next week....