Ikea's The Same

We were heading south to Kent, but at the the junction entering the M25 (the motorway that surrounds London) we headed north. Because of how the roads connect it was actually the quickest way to meet up with my Dad (and his wife Sue and my brother Sam) at the Ikea on the far side of London. It made "sense" (in a way) to drive around the north side of London to go to Kent via Ikea. It was a long drive anyway, but a minor accident caused traffic chaos, adding 40 minutes or so to our journey.

Dad faced similar Sunday traffic woes and by the time we were all at Ikea, we had only about 30 minutes to rush through. We were astounded how it was essentially identical to the Ikea in Calgary. Inside the giant box store with no windows and lots of lovely show rooms, there was little to distinguish the two stores on opposite sides of the world, except that the London Ikea was possibly busier than its Canadian equivalent, if that is possible...

Our house is furnished, but we were still interested in some fairly specific items to make things more comforatble. A computer table for our internet-less computer. We needed some drawer units for holding clothes. We need a couple of chairs to supplement the few that came with the house. It was such a rush through Ikea that we felt compelled to make no decisions at all. We were tempted by the super cheap items in the last few thousand square feet of "market" section, but the queues were too much. Despite driving hours out of our way, we had nothing except for a strange longing for cheap press-board furniture. Why is Ikea so much like Macdonalds' fries? The quality is essential rubbish, but you want them. You long for them. And occassionally, you just need them.

We were on our way to Kent to celebrate my aunt and uncle's 40th wedding anniversary. It was sensational. Not only was Dad, Sue and Sam there, but Emily (my sister) and her boy Armando were there too. My uncle Ron is in the (book) design business in London and he knows how to do things 'right'. The reception was an afternoon tea at a stunning manor house in the hills of Kent. There was a traditional jazz band that played fantastically in the corner. It was just the right volume to be perfectly enjoyable but allowed everyone to chat. The food was lovely. We had a chance to catch up with cousins and June and Ron themselves and got to sit and chat with family as well. Anna was decked out in a cute little pink number and was pleased with all the attention that was showered on her. June and Ron even arranged a magician for the kids and had generous gifts for all the children. It was a wonderful afternoon and we were all a little sad when we had to go. Below is Anna and Grandad:
I spent the rest of the week researching the cost of various different furniture options for us. With no internet, I went old-school and got catalogues from all sorts of companies. I peered through them whenever we had a free moment. For those who remember Consumer's Distributing in Canada, they have an identical set up here called Argos. It's a bit hit and miss with Argos on the quality front and most of our supplied furniture is Ikea anyway so we were leaning heavily towards the Ikea option. Using the catalogue--curse Orange--we established that the nearest Ikea was about 60 miles away in North London. Astonishingly, it was open to midnight. This little discovery was made at about 8pm on a Monday night. By 8:15 we were packing up to drive into London. No crazy traffic was my thought. Driving in London is still a bit intimidating, so the idea of fewer cars made it more appealing.

Sure enough, traffic was light as we ventured into London. There is something called the North Circular, which was the original 'ring road'. The only thing about the North Circular (and, indeed the South Circular) is that isn't always the most identifiably major road. There are loads of traffic lights and roundabouts. It is often one lane with residential homes on either side. There are little shops and pubs. It veers to avoid parks. There are pedustrial (or 'zebra') crossings. It is not unlike Elbow Drive in Calgary. Only there are some 15 million potential drivers rather than a few hundred thousand as Calgary might offer. Still, we drove nearly straight there, arriving at about 9:30. It turns out that a surprsing number of those 15 million odd London area residents had chosen a cold, November, Monday night to go to Ikea. The mamoth cark park was full. After finding a spot and trudging in, we braved crowds that I would associate with a Saturday morning. However, armed with our now slightly dog-eared catalogue and a resounding sense of purpose, we went directly to what we were after. Snap decisions were made. Efficiency ruled the day... or evening. By 11pm, we had picked up our flat, heavy carboard boxes full of press-board (or is it Ikea-drug?) furniture.

The addiction had been satiated as we fled London back to our sleepy little town... which was indeed asleep when we got home at half twelve. A weight had been lifted. We had braved London and Ikea and came out with things that would make us more comfortable without compromising our pseudo-trendiness. Anna slept and quietly went to bed while we unpacked the boxes into our front room.

As it turned out, the boxes sat for a few days in the front room before we were able to deal with them. It's one thing to see them in the show-room, but quite another thing to bring yourself to put them together with a tiny little hex-key that hurts your fingers with every screw that tighten past a moderate resistance. Additionally, one box didn't even have instructions! We phoned Ikea. The lady explained to me that it wasn't a problem as the instructions were online. I told her about Orange and she posted me a copy of the instructions for our Kläppenburg (or whatever) drawer unit. Royal Mail had them to me the next day. Then we realised that in our flurry of purchasing we had actually forgotten to pick up one of the drawer units from the high metal shelves of the pick-up area. The frustration nearly brought me to my knees but what can you do? What WE will do, is do without. And that is actually working out okay. ₤50 saved. That's a family flight to Munich! And if I can write this much about a trip to Ikea, imagine the blog potential!

We leave you with a gratuitous blueberry shot: