p>We bought three poles with all the relevant joining pieces we needed, just to point out at this early stage that the joining pieces were 90° bends. That should have flagged alarm bells already, as the side windows in the bay are more like 40°. The instructions told me to cut them. Why an alarm did not automatically go off in the store at that point, I have no idea. Lights and horns should have been flashing and sounding and assistants running over to rugby tackle me to the ground and prise the bend pieces out of my hands, pulling with them the hacksaw I had just purchased.

They didn't though, and sitting in the lounge this morning I decided to have a go. I'd already received advice from my girlfriends father, and very sound advice, something I had thought of doing already.

Just cut the main pole to size, attach the bend then hold it against the wall. Take the cut piece of the pole and lay it flat across the side wall and mark it against the bend to see where to cut it to achieve the correct angle

Girlfriends Father

Did you understand that? Chances are if you did, you're DIY person already. To be fair, I understood it and I was thinking that already. However, when it came to practice, the girlfriend stood holding the pole against the wall and I used the cut piece to measure where we should cut the bend. Seemed to be going well so far.

Cutting was another matter. Without blaming the tools, the hacksaw blade was squint to the frame, so when you looked down and thought you were cutting straight, the blade was twisting another angle. Apart from that, I just couldn't cut a straight line, and I couldn't hold this small 90 bend firmly enough to ensure no wobble.

The upshot was that the bend was cut repeatedly at squinter and squinter angles, until it had been cut too far and each cut left gaping holes in the join anyway. What a disaster.

So I'm giving up DIY. We're either going to pay someone to do this, or find bendable curtain poles. Anyone know of some?!