You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs

And you can’t tiles bathroom without breaking tiles. But we’d rather like to do the breaking ourselves!

Ivan came back a few weeks ago and started on finishing off the upstairs bathroom and we realised we didn’t quite have enough tiles to do so and would have to order some more.

I thought I’d ordered the right amount of tiles and wasn’t sure where they’d all gone, but I think the various corners and blinds were enough. Whatever the reason we needed to order some more and i discussed the details with Ivan, sketched and calculated and then ordered them.

When we went to collect them it turned out there was a mistake in the order and only six instead of nine of the big ones were delivered. And the smaller ones turned out to be just 1 cm too small. So we had to order some more, and, as they have to come from the factory in Italy, wait. We also decided to order some in reserve for the future in case we have to make any repairs, because you can be sure that in a couple of years we won’t be able to get the same tiles anymore.

On Tuesday I got a call that the missing three had arrived. Luckily my friend Marius was over for lunch and was able to drive me to the dealer. But as soon as the packaging was removed it was obvious the tiles had been broken in transit. We could take them anyway but really needed the full size ones.

But one of the advantages of buying from a specialist dealer is customer service. And Mr Pulst of Schmidt Rüdersdorf has been great. He immediately apologised and said he’d order another six.

Delivery times are a little uncertain at the moment but hopefully they’ll take just over a week and the others that have been ordered will come soon as well.

But we’re getting there and have at least we’ve been able to install the shower basin.