Magic carpets

We bought a rug when we were on holiday.

You know how it goes. You're on holiday, you're relaxed, you go on a day trip, you look around a carpet co-operative and let me stop there.

They are rugs, not carpets. Why do people 'abroad' insist on calling them carpets? Is it part of the sales pitch to make them seem bigger than they are? Why carpet? Size for size carpets cost less than rugs, generally speaking, so why?

Anyway, we visited a carpet co-operative which was educational (and painful to the purse). We learned about how rugs, sorry carpets, are knotted. We discovered that the Turkish double knot technique is superior to the Chinese single knot method. We saw the silk worm cocoon after it had been steamed and as the silk was being extracted. In fact the cocoon that was opened for us to see the silk worm contained twins, which is rare.

We were told about the Turkish government's great initiative to set up co-operatives to keep the art of carpet making alive. Young women are brought in and trained and then given a loom and sent home.

Carpets they produce of a high enough standard can then be sold to the co-operative at a guaranteed price. Different carpets from different areas are then traded between co-operatives meaning each has a broad display on offer to the likes of me.

And Dave and I saw a rug we liked and of course it had to be silk and of course that meant it was expensive. I don't do expensive so even after about half an hour of haggling Dave and I got on the bus. It was then that the final offer was produced and we bit and bought a Turkish magic carpet. Other benefits of the Turkish Government initiative meant import duty was paid and so was delivery home. We also paid a deposit with the promise of cash on delivery.

About five weeks later our lovely rug was delivered but there was a problem. The certificate of authenticity had a stamp but no details, and the ticket attached to the rug said "Made in China".

I fell out of love. I wanted a magic Turkish carpet, not a cheap Chinese imitation.

To cut a very long story short, I complained because it seemed that a Turkish Govenment co-operative had sold me a Chinese carpet on the pretext that it was Turkish. So today, at home, I was visited by the gentleman who had shown us around the Turkish carpet co-operative. He bought his chequebook and offered me a refund. He brought with him a Chinese rug for comparison so I could feel the difference between the two methods of manufacture and he offered to give me the larger Chinese silk rug and £500 in exchange for my rug.

But he misunderstood. I like my carpet and I now know that my carpet is magic, and it is Turkish. The magic has been restored by some customer service that went the extra mile or, in this case, the extra few thousand miles.