The Fire Wok

I have an embarrassing habit of failing at online shopping. I have a growing collection of things that just weren’t quite what I was expecting or that I completely failed to look at the measurements and are completely unusable!

The curtains that came with our house didn’t quite meet in the middle so were not fit for purpose and I didn’t like the colour either. So I browsed and browsed curtains, got to the point that I just couldn’t wait any longer to order them, and excitedly ordered a bargain velvety pair from IKEA in a gorgeous dark blue. Then the 3 month wait to get them delivered (I ordered them in the first lockdown) was long and painful but I’d made the decision and was EXCITED for them to arrive. So they arrive and I put them up… and guess what?! I had another bloody pair of curtains that didn’t meet in the middle. 2 months later another pair of the same curtains arrive and I now have a slightly odd but live-with-able collection of 4 curtains on my curtain rail. Squint and you can’t see the gaps!

So anyway, back to the fire pit. We’d been looking at fire pits for weeks. Low stock, high prices, excessive waits for delivery, not quite the right look… etc etc and I got a bit tired of it. So I got an email from Olive and Sage (great place for quirky garden things!) saying pre-order now! Special price of just £43 for a fire pit! So I thought, how can you go wrong for £43, especially when most of them I'd seen are £100 plus! So I ordered it and ticked 'buy fire pit' off my to do list.

I've had the builders in, repairing render and painting the house. They were here when the fire pit arrived and I excitedly accepted the parcel from the delivery driver... the box was quite small, a wave of doubt washed over me. I told the builders what I'd bought and took it out of the box. You've bought a wok they teased! And yes, it seems I did indeed buy a fire wok for the garden.

It's literally just a little bigger than a wok, placed upon a smaller upturned wok as a stand. It did come with a poker though... Now, if you're looking for a small fire pit just to make a little fire on your patio, balcony or garden, then it's perfect! It did the job on Father’s Day with a little camp fire on the patio to toast marshmallows and make s'mores, what more could you need? Well, quite a big list of things according to my partner Jamie! Higher sides, more stability, more room for logs... the list goes on.

Do you have any online shopping fails? I'd love to hear them!