Sunroom Debacle - How Hard Can It Be?

Monday. The day after the weekend where Yu-Jin had his best friend stay over and then went to the beach with their family the following morning and left us two in peace. The day after I started painting the living room walls because Miky had come to the realisation that spending $350-$700 on fabric to hang on those walls wasn't justifiable, especially as I already had the paint to do the job. The day after Australian Idol heralded Damien Leith, our favourite singer, as the new Australian Idol. It must have been my vote that saw him across the line.

Monday. The day that I rang my builder and he actually answered the phone instead of letting it go through to his message bank. He, the Willy Wonka lookalike, informed me that the window would be there at 12 o'clock the next day and his carpenter would arrive at 12:30 to start work on it.

Tuesday. Twelve fifty. Miky rings me to say that the carpenter waited 10 minutes and then just left. No window. I rang the builder and he rang me back almost immediately. The carpenter had just gone to the shops for a drink. One thirty and Miky rings me to say that the window has arrived but it is the wrong colour and a patio door and not a window. I'm not the sort of bloke to panic when I have a contract because if it doesn't come up to standard I don't sign off. Miky is the sort of person who spits chips viciously. Another phone call came through less than a minute later. She had seen somebody else's door which had been taken off the back of the truck. No problem.

About 20 minutes later the phone rang again. The new, correctly painted window, didn't fit. The carpenter was effing and blinding. Miky was so concerned about this. I wasn't - if it's not right I won't settle for it and they can make it again. Then she started going on about cutting it down to size by about 15mm. Later she rang me to say that the door had to be cut. Our new, very expensive, door.

When I arrived home I discovered that the concrete floor had been ground down a little bit to allow the window to sit level. The problem was caused by an uneven floor. I don't know how many times that the front of the house was measured but this really shouldn't have happened. How hard can it be?

At least I don't have to pay for the heartache. I'm on a fixed price contract. Can't understand why Miky doesn't see the funny side of it all. Her panic button is permanently pressed, methinks.