The Chandelier Saga

I think you need to meet my friend Helen because her zest for life is infectious.

Pull up a chair to the table and pour yourself a glass of wine.

Now concentrate.

I was walking past this antique shop - well, I don't think it was really an antique shop, more a bricolage shop - and I saw the chandeliers in the window. When I went inside the woman was so rude I could hardly believe it - someone else came in after me and she said 'What do you want? There is nothing in here for you.' They had to leave the shop! Eventually I bought the chandeliers and she dumped them in a huge box without using any packing. I thought that she would help me but she let me stagger out to the car which I had to park on double yellow lines outside the shop. I regretted buying them immediately and left the box on the dining room table when I got home. It was so huge that we couldn't use the table so I shut the door and we ate in the kitchen instead. The next day we went out to eat and Mark noticed the chandeliers in the restaurant and spent the whole evening saying how much he hated them - I was in all kinds of agony because I hadn't told him what was in the box. I phoned the shop and asked the owner if I could return them but she refused, which didn't surprise me. The box was in the dining room for weeks until we needed the table at Easter so I put it in the garage and almost forgot about the chandeliers. When we moved into our new house I decided to be brave and ask our electrician to install them. And they look really fabulous and we love them. All that fuss for nothing - things usually turn out just fine in the end - it's a good lesson, isn't it!