I'm not quite sure what I expect from this post, it's almost that I'm
thinking aloud, but other pepole's experiences might help me make up my
mind.

I've had the same china for about 25 years. It's Villeroy & Boch
"Geranium", whic is yellow and gold on a white background. When I first
saw it, it screamed "Buy me!" (Insofar as I have a domestic colour
scheme it is green and gold, I am convinced this comes of reading LotR
at the age of 11 and internalising the house of Tom Bombadil.)

Anyway, after all this time the dinner plates and the bread and butter
plates have got a bit scratched and of course we've had (surprisingly
few) breakages which now cannot be replaced.

I like Villeroy & Boch china, I like the shapes. I particularly like the
deep soup bowls - we have soup a lot. The current range of patterns
available here, however, don't really grab me for various reasons,
though I could live with French Garden. But I have come across an
English business called Small Island Trader which will deliuver to
anywhere a vast range of English and European china. They can supply a
pattern called Manoir, which is plain white with a bit of embossing.

They also sell French Gien faience ware - somewhat more expensive. They
have a couple of traditional French white patterns which are very appealing.

In the past I have had some white pasta bowls with patterns embossed on
the rims and they were not a success as the glaze sort of wore down -
but they were cheap amd obviously nasty. It goes without saying that
what I have been looking at is microwave and dishwasher safe.

One of the further advantages of Small Island Trader is that you don't
have to buy a 20 piece or 36 piece or whatever setting. You can buy
exactly however many you want of whichever pieces in the range - you can
mix and match between patterns or even manufacturers. I do not want to
buy tea cups and saucers, nor cake plates. You only use them if you have
company (we drink out of mugs usually), and I would keep the ones I have
now. If I buy plain white then that is going to look better with the old
stuff that I retain.

I have also lately taken to wondering why china should be decorated with
flowers or birds or the like anyway. Part of me worries that this is
just a phase; at my age what I buy now may well do me until the old
folks' home, and if I buy plain white in a few years I may regret it. I
am after all contemplating spending something in excess of $500, plus
delivery.

Has anybody else been through this sort of agonising, or is it just me?

Christine