Saturday, January 05, 2008

And there was light!

First things first, I guess... Happy New Year to anyone reading this and I hope 2008 is a good one for you.

So for 2008 isn't looking much different to 2007 in Chez Lurgy. I'm still coughing and sniffing (and wondering if maybe I should enquire about a flu jab next year), Charlie is being boisterous and clumsy even as I type and Missy has retreated to the safety of the bedroom before he tries to wrestle with her again (he's already tried twice in the past hour). I returned to work this week where I'm already heavily loaded with an ever decreasing office population due to the ongoing Norovirus outbreak.

Dave is off at a Maelstrom player event this weekend and so today, I braved Coventry's newly opened Ikea on my own. I was after a reading lamp and I picked it out the catalogue and even checked online to see if it was in stock - however it still took me an hour and a half to find the right one, locate suitable energy saving equivalents to the recommended bulbs, find the checkout, buy said lamp (with bulbs) and then make my way out of the store. I did my homework. I had a map. But it still took forever... And that was just a simple errand - I hate to think what it would be like if I was buying something more substantial like furniture!

Mission accomplished though and I now have a reading lamp sitting beside my customary spot on the sofa which means I should be able to see what I'm doing in our poorly lit living room which should make needlecrafts a whole lot easier.

4 comments:

Frizbe said...

all pay homage to the great halls of blue and yellow......nightmare to get around eh! my tip is breakfast on sunday am for 99p at 10am, then leg it around as soon as they open at 11 and get the hell out of there (cuts about half hour off your normal trip!)

RichT said...

I've managed to avoid going to Ikea because I heard too many stories about nightmare shopping trips. Ikea must have something since people that moan about the crowds keep going back.

I hope Dave survived the cold and brought your blankets back dry.

Julie Spriddle said...

Frizbe - thanks for the tip, I shall bear it in mind for next time.

Richard - Ikea only opened in Cov the weekend before Christmas, so problems are worsened because even the staff don't know their way around yet! Ikea's main advantage over their competitors is their product range and prices; the former being typically larger than elsewhere and the latter starting very low compared with other stores. Or at least, that's my take on it having set foot in Ikea twice now...

(Makes mental note to check on blanket status tonight.)

Esther said...

I mentioned IKEA opening on my food blog and was thinking of doing a follow up post having been to the Cov one a couple of times now.

We have shopped there for years but till now it's been the occasional visit when you expect to take time and pick up a bunch of stuff. It being in town I can see the time it takes to get round to buy one thing could well get wearing and I think they would be wise to consider making the shortcuts and so forth more obvious in town based stores.