In readiness for the new bedroom we have purchased a water feature for outside the glass sliding bedroom door. Our little house is close to Bussell Highway, so when holiday times come, so does the traffic. Our new bedroom will be closer to the highway, so we figure a water feature outside will aid in creating a tranquil ambience that will rise above any traffic noise and aid a restful nights sleep.

As the traffic noise can ramp up considerably at times, our thoughts were, “let’s go big, there’s no point getting a boy to do a mans job”! We were up in Perth for a few days so chose a big water feature from Pots and More (three hours away from where we live).

It wouldn’t be ready for pick up before we left Perth, and they don’t deliver outside the metro area, so we paid a sizeable deposit and arranged a pick up for a later date. The plan was to hire a trailer and do a round trip all in one day to bring it back. The pieces were going to be heavy, so getting them off the trailer at the home end was going to be a problem. We’d deal with that when the time came. We hadn’t anticipated the problems we’d encounter before that.

The day before pick up was due, we phoned to check it would all be ready and waiting for us to pick up at ten o’clock the next morning. “Yes”, we were assured, “it’ll all be there ready for you”.

We rose at the crack of dawn and were on the road by 7am, arriving a few minutes earlier than 10. No water feature, and no-one there who could operate the fork left. Never mind, we were a little early. No cause for alarm bells – yet! Fifteen minutes later the bosses son arrived. “I was told 12 o’clock for pick up” he says. Well that’s not actually what he said – every second word in that sentence was an expletive that I won’t put into print. Two hours we waited while he tried to find all the parts, swearing and cursing the whole time. I mentioned to the office girl that he wasn’t a happy chappie, but added that I didn’t blame him as it was supposed to be made ready for pick up the day before. Her reply was that he was the one that was supposed to have readied it for pick up. Mmmm, we were seething, but kept ourselves well in control. Self preservation had kicked in, and I’m sure any venting on our part wouldn’t have ended well. It was clear we were dealing with a rather unsavoury character, and from the language and attitude, I’m sure fists would have answered any venting without hesitation.

After two hours of searching I suggested that maybe we could just get our deposit back and call it a day. Yes he agreed. Only he wouldn’t reverse the deposit on the credit card, instead he’d arrange for the accountant to transfer the deposit back into our account. Alarm bells definitely rang. I suspected we’d never see our deposit of nearly $1000 again. I figured the best we could do is choose another water feature. Fortunately that idea met with acceptance.

He dismantled our second choice From the yard and loaded it onto the trailer, we paid the difference, and were in our way with a promise to ourselves never to return. Getting it off at the home end is another story. The base weighed approximately 600kgs, but Paul, and our kind neighbours managed. Phew, though what a job.

Here’s the new water feature. All set up in place and working. The garden’s fully planted around it, we just have to wait for it all to grow. It looks lovely, but being approximately a third of the size of the one we picked, only time will tell if we’ve bought a boy of a water feature to do a man’s job.