Bull in a China Shop

For the past five years I have been engaged upon the completion of an extremely challenging jigsaw: Vermeer's View of Delft in twenty-million mind-bending pieces. The enormous size of this puzzle, almost forty-times larger than the actual painting and consequently impossible to contain within the confines of any room in my house, has necessitated the construction of a special "Jigsaw Arena" in my garden at the expense of my wife's flower beds and trellis.
Floodlights have been installed for evening sessions when, suspended from my modified trapeze harness, I abseil horizontally back and forth across the face of the jigsaw struggling with some of the more complex cloud sections. The edge pieces are now in place, which includes all of Vermeer's delicate weather effects and half of the Rotterdam Gate, the tiny figures by the canal, and that house on the left hand side of the picture. Indeed, I was happily contemplating completion of the whole jigsaw years when I encountered an unforeseen problem.
Somehow, pieces from a fantasy-theme Minotaur jigsaw must have got muddled up with my View of Delft at the printing factory, and so now, instead of Vermeer's shipyard and the rest of the Rotterham Gate, the middle of my jigsaw has been invaded by a muscular beast dragging a naked maiden through his Cretan labyrinth. I'm sure you can imagine my dismay, and I take no comfort from the irony of a puzzle of a mythological puzzle appearing within the original puzzle, either. Is it some sort of sign? What can it all mean?

(I'm sorry. I have no idea why I write these things. I'll go on vacation again soon and do more proper blog postings like those below)

Comments

[Peter Horne]

You've been sold a dud. The real jigsaw contains a view of the Rotterdam Gate apparently. There's big money in these counterfeit jigsaws, so my dealer tells me. I spent six months on mine only to find it was a view of the Rotherham Gate shopping Centre. Never mind, look on the bright side, at least Rotterham sounds interesting, if you've ever been to Rotherham you'll know why.
PS Your wife seems a most indulgent and estimable woman, please convey her my best regards.