Ikea

Today we went to Ikea in Holland which is exactly the same as going to Ikea in Australia. It’s hard to get to, you get a little pencil to write down the 15 numbers and letters which sometimes but not always correspond to where each item it will be located in the self service area, there’s a big cafeteria selling meatballs and there are lots of kids having tantrums. Still it was kind of exciting - everything is so cheap and novel and practical. You can’t not buy anything.

Storage and work space is becoming a bit of an issue at home. In the last week or so I have been working from home - a temporary gig editing thehagueonline.com and I have taken on the unpaid magazine editors job at the IWC-The Hague. So I have been sunk into the lounge and crouching over a laptop and my back is killing me.  I’m also learning Dutch at home so there a bits of paper everywhere and I haven’t felt organised.

I’ve actually been saying to Sean “maybe we need to go to Ikea” for about a year now, to no effect but I think the place has not got just messy enough for him to crack. 

Because we don’t have a car we caught a tram and a bus to Delft Ikea.  Delft is actually where the international headquarters of Ikea are located. That’s right, not Sweden. 

We bought two Billys, a Snille, a Magasin, a Micke, a couple of Branäs, a Kolon and some Bumarang coathangers. Then we wheeld our trolley to the delivery counter and braced ourselves. We expected a €5000 charge for home delivery but it was only €39 for same day service. A bargain! And we had just enough money left to get a €1 meal deal, a 100% chicken hot dog and bottomless cup of softdrink.

Now I am sunk into the lounge over the laptop, being very quiet while Sean puts my desk together.