zzzzzzzzzz.........

 

A weekend of domestic bliss! Even a Sunday night spent wading through the spillage of the blocked downstairs toilet doesn't seem to shake us. We just watch the football with our wellies on.

During the past few weeks Mr S. and I have had our ups and downs. Yes, we are getting used to living in the Netherlands again, but it definitely doesn't feel like we've arrived. I am sort of kidding myself that I am loving it here and that we should buy a house, make a pact to stay here for a least a decade and buy tons of new furniture to cement the deal.
Mr S. on the other hand is not so sure about the whole living in the Netherlands thing, so doesn't want to buy a house yet, let alone think about how long he is going to stay. Needless to say, furniture never even enters his head.
However hard I try not to push Mr S. - and I honestly do try - most weekends start with me wanting to discuss buying a house and more often than not telling him which one I would like to make an offer on. This weekend of course is no exception.
To my surprise however Mr S. is not only willing to discuss houses (as long as we don't have to decide), but he also agrees to look at some furniture with me. Now! So we decide that after fifteen years, two home births and four moves we will treat ourselves to a new bed. And not that we're pining for our lovely place in the Alps, but we head straight for 'Swiss Sense', a Dutch chain of bed & mattress stores that, as we are about to find out, have nothing to do with Switzerland whatsoever. According to the sales guy the 'Swiss' in 'Swiss Sense', is purely for marketing purposes. It just sounds nice. The beds are in fact produced in the Philippines.
He is not too bad this guy, until he starts jotting figures on a piece of paper. Although 'every bed in the store can be combined with every mattress and top layer', when we do suggest a different combination, it all of a sudden seems to get a.very complicated and b.very expensive. But we do like the bed. We do however  definitely do not trust the salesman, so we leave.
But then we find an even bigger 'Swiss Sense' store that is open on a Sunday as well. The weather is absolutely gorgeous as we head out around two. Which is just as well as the store (one of fifty furniture stores in a massive arcade, which is pretty much how I would picture hell if I believed there was one) is very quiet. As soon as we enter the store,  the manager dives upon us.
Before we have had the time for such much as a cursory look around, this guy is bombarding us with information. He talks about pocket springs, bonnell springs, foam mattresses, memory foam, latex foam and different seams. He also talks about different zoning in mattresses and shows us five booklets of different upholstery fabrics. All I want to do is lay down. At the rate that this guy keeps going, I would be able to sleep anywhere. 
I soon realise that bringing an engineer to a bed and mattress store is a very bad idea. Mr S. actually seems to enjoy talking about different types of coils. 'Let's buy this one here', I mutter under my breath to Mr S. when the sales guy finally draws breath.
Luckily my husband agrees and an hour and a half later of testing different mattresses and top layers ('toppers' in bed & mattress store jargon) he too is willing to pay the guy extra if only he would shut up. Although I now know everything about Talalay natural foam latex and have laid down on a 'topper' made of camel and horse hair, which is more expensive than my car.
When at the end of the process the guy is willing to 'do us a deal', we just nod.Whatever, we're buying the bed. Three hours after we entered the shop, we are finally set free. The sun have never shone brighter!
We have the best time ever driving back. Hours later we are still in high spirits. So when the water from from the downstairs toilet floods our hallway, we just laugh. Who cares? We have just spent the best couple of thousand euro's in our lives. Not only did the money buy us a very nice bed, but more important, it bought us fifteen years of not having to set foot in another bed & mattress store again!