Ikeaaargh!
I have a love/hate relationship with Ikea.
On one hand it offers some genuinely cheap stuff, and on the other hand some stuff seems to be very expensive for what it is. Some stuff seems to be high quality, and others a bit rubbish (I think the two points may go hand-in-hand here).
Still, over the years I've bought lots of things at Ikea, and managed to build them all without too much fuss, swearing, or instigation of divorce proceedings.
They have the best restaurant in the world, too. You can buy breakfast for 95p. 95p! It may not be the best food, but you get eggs, bacon, sausage, tomatoes, beans and a hash-brown. I tend to add a bread roll, some orange juice and a limitless cup of coffee, but the total for two people is still only about a fiver.
Then, there are the meatballs. These are simply the best things you can eat in the entire world. Joe tried them at the weekend when we went and kept asking for more, so he's obviously a chip off the old block.
There is a great choice of goods on sale, and they do provide handy shortcuts so you can skip large sections. The "Marketplace" section is also very handy for buying things you never knew you needed until you saw them.
So you wander through the store, eventually deciding, as we did, that we would buy a particular new wardrobe for Jess. It was a good price, the right size and had all the relevant features. So we jotted down the aisle number and location, went to the aforementioned brilliant restaurant, where Joe had great fun making a mess of the place, and then went to collect the wardrobe.
This is where the whole hate part of the relationship comes in; they didn't have any. There is nothing more demoralising than walking around a store for two hours, finding the perfect thing to buy, but then discovering there are none left, and now you are so far away from the actual shop floor that you can't face going back again. It's like getting down from the top of Everest only to realise you've left your keys and wallet at the top. You'll just have to make do without them.
Some kind of stock-checking thing like Argos have would be good. Although by the time you get down there they'd probably all be gone because it takes so bloody long.
Finally, in recognition of the fact that this blog is getting far too serious of late, I'll share a little conversation between Jess (who is 10), and Ele and myself that happened a couple of weeks ago.
Jess: Oh Dad, you found my bracelet!
Me: No problem, now put it somewhere safe.
Jess: I'll wear it, it's to show I'm a virgin.
Ele & Me: Er, well, quite, um, I should hope so!
Jess: Oh wait, I mean Virgo. I always get those two mixed up.
On one hand it offers some genuinely cheap stuff, and on the other hand some stuff seems to be very expensive for what it is. Some stuff seems to be high quality, and others a bit rubbish (I think the two points may go hand-in-hand here).
Still, over the years I've bought lots of things at Ikea, and managed to build them all without too much fuss, swearing, or instigation of divorce proceedings.
They have the best restaurant in the world, too. You can buy breakfast for 95p. 95p! It may not be the best food, but you get eggs, bacon, sausage, tomatoes, beans and a hash-brown. I tend to add a bread roll, some orange juice and a limitless cup of coffee, but the total for two people is still only about a fiver.
Then, there are the meatballs. These are simply the best things you can eat in the entire world. Joe tried them at the weekend when we went and kept asking for more, so he's obviously a chip off the old block.
There is a great choice of goods on sale, and they do provide handy shortcuts so you can skip large sections. The "Marketplace" section is also very handy for buying things you never knew you needed until you saw them.
So you wander through the store, eventually deciding, as we did, that we would buy a particular new wardrobe for Jess. It was a good price, the right size and had all the relevant features. So we jotted down the aisle number and location, went to the aforementioned brilliant restaurant, where Joe had great fun making a mess of the place, and then went to collect the wardrobe.
This is where the whole hate part of the relationship comes in; they didn't have any. There is nothing more demoralising than walking around a store for two hours, finding the perfect thing to buy, but then discovering there are none left, and now you are so far away from the actual shop floor that you can't face going back again. It's like getting down from the top of Everest only to realise you've left your keys and wallet at the top. You'll just have to make do without them.
Some kind of stock-checking thing like Argos have would be good. Although by the time you get down there they'd probably all be gone because it takes so bloody long.
Finally, in recognition of the fact that this blog is getting far too serious of late, I'll share a little conversation between Jess (who is 10), and Ele and myself that happened a couple of weeks ago.
Jess: Oh Dad, you found my bracelet!
Me: No problem, now put it somewhere safe.
Jess: I'll wear it, it's to show I'm a virgin.
Ele & Me: Er, well, quite, um, I should hope so!
Jess: Oh wait, I mean Virgo. I always get those two mixed up.
posted by Nej at
12:50 pm
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